Logs:Let's Make Them Jealous
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| RL Date: 31 October, 2014 |
| Who: Lilabet, Telavi |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Between one goldrider's death and another's, Telavi checks Lilabet out from the |
| Where: Harper Hall, Southern Continent |
| When: Day 20, Month 2, Turn 36 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: Aishani/Mentions, B'tal/Mentions, Bristia/Mentions, Devaki/Mentions, Dilan/Mentions, Jinzhai/Mentions, Madilla/Mentions, Quinlys/Mentions, Raija/Mentions, Teris/Mentions |
| OOC Notes: Waaaaaay backdated. |
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| It's a whole turn, now, that Lilabet's been at the Hall; she's no longer the newest of the new Apprentices, and she's approaching her thirteenth turnday to boot. She's not the most diligent letter-writer, though she tries; really, they're more inclined to the 'note' than the 'letter,' except when there's gossip to forward. Did Telavi know (or care?) what the apprentices are wearing this turn? To Lilabet, at least, it's important news. Telavi's interested, surely, but isn't she always? She's able to provide bits of information in return about what the fashionable women are wearing across the continent, the sort of thing that will trickle down to apprentices in time, along with even briefer diagrams about how Lilabet can edit her own wardrobe-- if she has time-- to allude to this look or that. Admittedly, Telavi hasn't the greatest regard for the health of Lilabet's mother's pocketbook-- that's for Madilla to guard-- but at least she too prefers notes over treatises, especially in the wake of events such as the tragedy at Tillek. It's over a month later when she makes arrangements to sweep Lilabet away next, the greenrider paying her respects to the apprentice master before checking the girl out from the Hall like a not-quite-restricted scroll from the archives. Having a greenrider for a friend is a hot commodity at the Hall; it's also more tangible than those other matters Lilabet could make the most of, like her close familial relationship to a Lord Holder (granted, not through blood), and the fact that she has a goldrider for an aunt. Tangible is important, though, when you're (nearly) thirteen; it's all there is. Today, wearing her jacket and an over-sized crocheted scarf that would fall nearly to her toes if only she let it, the apprentice trails after the greenrider towards the courtyard, deliberate in her steps. She, after all, has been checked out. "You look amazing," she says, just short of wistful. Tela twirls to smile back at Lilabet, the flared hem of her coat swinging out, with complete disregard for the ice to either side of the path; "Thank you," the greenrider says, only to tease cheekily, "One benefit to not growing anymore, right? even if there's not the excuse of needing redoing..." It's a reminder to scan Lilabet and her jacket, just in case, once they get to the point of handing the girl up and getting going. The Southern Continent's just a few coughs-- the good kind-- away. Lilabet's grown considerably over the past turn; grown into her jacket, if not completely, at least to the point where she's begun to fill it out. It takes only a minute lengthening of her stride to adopt movement similar to the greenrider's, at least as far as Solith. "But then you can repurpose," is her conclusion, both wistful and enthusiastic, this time, though she puts aside those thoughts in favour of their departure for the south. "It's been forever since I was somewhere properly warm," she enthuses. "Yes..." approves Telavi but with minor, reluctant sibilance. "it's just sometimes, when it's just right the way it is, one doesn't want to give it up-- even if it really doesn't fit where one is now. Especially if it has good memories...." Still, she's readily distracted into a bright smile for Lilabet and Lilabet's appreciation. "I was thinking a little place I know, with drinks they'd let you have," mostly, "and sweets and such. If we had leftovers for you to bring back, that wouldn't be the end of the world, would it?" Silently, Lilabet plays with the cuff of her jacket, as though imagining the possibility of its loss through unexpected growth; still, it's hard to throw her from her good mood, even with such dreary thoughts. "That," she says, answering the rest of Telavi's words with a rather happier sigh, "sounds perfect. Do you have any idea how popular I'll be in the dorms tonight?" No doubt the greenrider does. Telavi dimples at her; yes, she does indeed! It's later-- when they have been safely enjoying southern warmth and cool drinks for some time, the slight breeze fragrant from the flowering vines that shade the terrace-- that Tela digresses from the diverting discussion of belts and which tools Journeyman Jinzhai thinks do and don't belong on them. "Do most of the other girls... and boys, I suppose... have parents that are crafters, do you think? At least one?" Having thrown off her jacket, fluffed up her hair, and settled herself into a semi-reclining position, one foot beneath her, Lilabet drums her fingers upon the table-top, considering Telavi's question with quiet intensity. "A lot of them," she allows, at length. "Some come from really harper-y families, where it's the family thing to do. There's not a lot of weyr kids, I think because maybe it's more restrictive than staying at home would be? And, I guess, everyone wants to Impress." Speaking of, "I haven't heard you talking about Impression as much, lately," Telavi mentions; her tone is on the gentle side of teasing, with just a hint of arch emphasis on that second pronoun, and her fruity drink with its floating flower-petals is diminishing only slowly. The question draws a pause, and the faintest pink blush upon Lilabet's pre-teen cheeks. "I still want to," she says. "I think. But there's so much to learn, and I'm just... I love it, Telavi. All of it. I don't want to give it up for something that can wait." Although a moment later, over the rim of her own glass? "Unless I was actually Searched. I'm not sure I could turn that down!" "Like, actually by a dragon who actually meant it, not just someone asking you to Stand? And not someone pretending their dragon was asking you to Stand when really it was them even if they thought you'd be a good rider?" Telavi double-checks, though she hardly leaves a pause before adding with a crinkle of her nose, "Whatever that means." "Yes!" For that Lilabet is both enthusiastic and fervent. "Maybe I will just ask to Stand one day, or let someone ask me, but right now... it would have to be because a dragon really, really wanted me to be there, and not because a rider did. Does that make sense?" She's abruptly uncertain. "Because I know you don't have to be properly Searched in order to Impress, but that's not really the point, here. For this." "It does," Telavi assures with emphasis, and that's even because it does. Moreover-- and this is worth setting down her glass, even if she does steal a quick swallow first-- her hands emphasize, "Think of Bristia. You can do that." Lilabet knows Bristia, right? "Do all that learning, and you can take it with you anywhere you go." In answer, Lilabet's eyes light. "Yes," she says, with emphasis. "That's exactly the kind of thing I want to do." A pause. Then, "Is it wrong for me to plan that? I haven't told the masters or anything. It seems... disloyal, to plan to leave them, even though I really do want to be a harper, and really would use it forever and ever. I'd be an asset." "You would be an asset." That's the part that's easy to answer. For the rest, Telavi takes up her drink once more, and lingers over a sip as she leans back. "It's not like you'd be wasting what they teach you," she reasons to Lilabet. "Or," with a hinted-at dimple that now leads to a hand over her heart, and a dramatic voice to go with it, "that the Craft couldn't win your heart for good." Lilabet is plainly pleased by that first remark, her smile broadening in enthusiasm, though she's more serious for the rest-- even that last bit, mostly, right until she can't help herself and breaks into a grin once more. "That's true," she agrees, firmly. "Besides, just because my father was a greenrider, and his family are mostly dragonriders, doesn't mean I will Impress. I expect I'd be disappointed, but it's not as though I'm planning that part of my life out, in detail. I shall take it as it comes." It's made her curious, though; "Did you plan to Impress? Hope to?" "'In detail,'" Tela murmurs under her breath, the corners of her smile tipping up before they fade. "Ugh," she says. Petulant? Yes. Exaggerated? Also yes. "I Stood and Stood and Stood at Benden... and then I come to High Reaches and then there's Solith," she snaps her fingers, "just like that." As astute as she can be, Lilabet's far too focused on her flights of fancy to notice that murmur, really. Anyway, she's got a tidbit of Telavi's life to focus her attention on, and does so, leaning forward in interest. "That's amazing," she decides. "As if she knew you were coming! You were meant to be at High Reaches, and not stinking Benden at all. It's almost romantic, don't you think?" Telavi smooths out the instinctive crinkle of her nose; "Maybe!" she supposes more tolerantly. "Though I do still like Benden, Lilabet. I still see my friends there, not as much as we used to, but it's nicer this way. Little traditions, you know? Are you still in touch with your people," 'her people!' "at High Reaches, at all?" Lilabet's expression supposes she understands, even if it's far less dramatic, that way, and if she's learned anything, being at the Hall, it's the power of properly-employed drama (dimples will have to come later). "A little," she says. "I visited with them at turn's end, but it's not the same, is it? They have new... things." Her harper vocabulary fails for a moment before she manages to clarify, "different shared experiences, I suppose. Different words and phrases. And so, of course, do I." "More exciting things," Telavi murmurs, after a fleeting smile for how that vocabulary kicks in. She glances out over the hillside that slopes away from them; then, considering the younger girl-- the apprentice!-- "Is it hard not to go on about things they might take as gloating? Even though they're things that... are just part of your life, now?" "Ye-es," says Lilabet, hesitating just a little over it. "I think some of them feel I'm stuck up, in the way that I talk, and in... having exposure to so much, I suppose. It's not that I mean to. Even Dilan teases me about how I talk, when I see him, sometimes. And Raija giggles." It sets those big eyes to looking troubled for a moment... but only a moment. She shakes it off; she smiles. "That's just part of growing up, I think. I wouldn't trade it, not for anything. But; you should be telling me about your life, too." "At least she's not crying all the time?" Telavi tries to be helpful. "About my life..." she settles back in her seat, scooting her shoulders deeper into the upholstery. "Here's the thing, Lilabet." Her voice has changed, is changing, syllable by syllable; is it something Lilabet's already harper enough to notice, gradual as it is, losing the cadence of Benden for the invisible accent of High Reaches' home? "Do you want to go back and have people notice all the remarkable new things you've worked so hard to pick up? Or do you want to slip back into place as though you were never even gone?" The question gives Lilabet obvious pause, her eyes widening above the drink she'd just been lifting towards her mouth. She wets her lips, carefully, her front teeth resting upon the lower lip for a few long moments before she admits, "I don't... I don't know. In a way, I think I want both? I want people to know and to notice, but I still want to belong." Belong. Tela's lashes flutter down; she sips. Her eyes rise, blue. "Some people will like whatever you do. But... most people will notice that you're back, and ask a thing or two, and then they won't want to listen while you recount the exciting details of the life they're never going to get to know; not until you start feeling like one of them again--" "Because it's..." A pause, from the not-quite-a-teen. "Bragging. Or must seem like it. I hadn't thought of that." Lilabet's face contorts, quietly, as she works her way through this new thought. "Was it like that, for you, when some of your other friends Impressed immediately? When you were at Benden." Tela's face says yes before she can decide whether to play it down or up. After a moment she compromises, her tone lilting to make light of her words, still in that same High Reaches-speak; "It was awful, absolutely. The first time, and the last time, and most of the times in between. Don't tell Quinlys..." hushed, with a glance to the tables nearby, "but once I was tipsy." The 'tipsy' lightens words that Lilabet otherwise appears to be taking very seriously indeed. Her nod is spare, just barely visible past the obvious set of her jaw. Then, breath escaping, "I'd never say a word, not that I think you're being wholly serious." Is it chiding? She's smiling, at least, abruptly. "I don't want to be promoted before my friends... or, I mean, them ahead of me. I'm not saying I'm brilliant! But you want to all stay together, don't you? Only, I think life doesn't always work that way." Telavi hardly seems chided, not with the teasing unveiling-- donning?-- of her smile; "Not them ahead, of course not," she plays at soothing. "We do, we did... only," not quite mimicry there. "We want other things too. Oh! That reminds me," she adds, "What's the latest on the specialty you want someday? Is it still composition?" Lilabet mouths those words: 'other things.' She might say more on the topic, but she's thirteen (nearly) and easily distracted. "Composition," she confirms. "I want to write the great sagas. I wish..." and she pauses, then, biting her lip in a thoughtful, uncomfortable kind of way. Telavi toys with a bit of near-dissolved ice, in no hurry, giving Lilabet time... unless Lilabet seems inclined to go some other route, at which point there's sure to be a quiet prompt. Lilabet's solemn, when she continues, sucking in a deep breath and then exhaling it before, carefully, "I wish I knew enough to write a song for Aishani." "You do," Telavi says, and she's positive. "Maybe you'll do a song for her that you like better, later... but you really can now." Blue eyes widen for Telavi's confidence; Lilabet opens her mouth to reply, but stops herself before she's actually managed to say a word, her shoulders rolling back, her posture straightening. "I want to try," she says. "I know a Journeyman or Master will do something official, but... they won't have known her, not even... not that I knew her, but, you know?" "You saw her in the dinner line sometimes," Telavi suggests. "When she wasn't off being a hero?" "Was she a hero?" Lilabet doesn't make it sound like she's sure either way; her uncertainty has her taking in another deep breath for all that she nods. "That's what people say," but Telavi doesn't sound positive, not until she says, "If she hadn't given warning, more ships would have gone under." A moment later she adds with a brittle attempt at worldly wisdom, though, "And of course, once you're dead, you can't... I don't know, stub your toe and convince people you're 'only human.'" "People... make you into a hero, whether you were or not. And it's conflicting." Clearly, Lilabet has picked up enough to grasp that; she's so thoughtful, now, as she thinks about it, chewing on her lip. "People want to forget the bad things, sometimes. But should we? She did a good thing. She also did things that... hurt people." "How complicated," Telavi asks, "do you want your song?" In lieu of immediate answer, Lilabet attends to her drink; the poor thing was being neglected. It's only once she has set it down again that she ventures, carefully, "I haven't decided, yet. I want it to be a true depiction, but I don't know if... I don't think I understand, really, the complexities of it, so how can I write about them?" Tela's been listening with real interest despite their disparate ages; now she wonders-- with a flip of one hand that's the closest she'll get to a disclaimer-- "Why not try writing and see what comes out? We sketch before ever we cut into fabric, at least unless it's boringly basic," and this won't be that. It's enough, at least, that Lilabet smiles; a true, blossoming smile, warm and bright and eager. "I'll try," she agrees. "I don't have to show it to anyone, after all. It can't hurt." It's obvious that she's diverted by the idea - distracted by it - and perhaps half eager to rush off and do just this, except... except. She turns her attention back upon Telavi, more firmly. "I can see why you teach," she says. It's a smile that brings out Telavi's in return, warm and bright and delighted. She's nodding, and then Lilabet's eagerness is so obvious that she's already started to reach for her bag when-- caught, she glances up, blushing. "Really?" tries hard to be an amused, 'Really now.' The blush makes Lilabet grin, positively ear-to-ear; the word that follows only makes her laugh. "Really," she says. "It's because you don't try and force the point. You just... make people think. Make me think, anyway. I like that." "Sometimes I do," Telavi warns once she's past being flustered, positively impish. At least... until she changes her tone. "Now, Lilabet," is rife with newfound haughtiness and the accent that's slipped back to Benden-- when had that last happened, anyway?-- in a way that might imply it's time to go, especially since Telavi completes the bag-taking this time. Only, Tela's coming up with writing materials instead. "Take yourself some notes-- you can hang onto the hide, but I'll need the graphite stick back-- and I shall finish my drink." Everyone has her arduous labors, and the greenrider's will conclude soon enough with checking Lilabet and her treats back into the Hall... plus an extra for her master, too. |
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