Logs:That Could Work
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| RL Date: 10 November, 2009 |
| Who: Isobel, Kash |
| Involves: Fort Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Nakasha and Isobel are devious, devious people who make plans that will hopefully solve the problems with both of their love lives. |
| When: Day 3, Month 3, Turn 21 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: M'try/Mentions |
| Isobel has become a regular fixture at the weyr, it seems, visiting her brother - and occasionally others - at least once a seven. Now she's here again after a mere five-day break. Her family duty dispatched, she's roaming the caverns asking around after Nakasha, who's got to be /somewhere/ around here. Some kind soul seems to have taken pity on Isobel, because said kind soul reappears a few minutes after being asked by the holder girl, dragging Nakasha by the hand. "Who's asking for me?" asks Kash, frowning, not /unwilling/, as such, but visibly wary. That, at least, gets toned down as they round a corner and her gaze catches Isobel: ah-hah! "Isobel!" The other woman drops her hand, and Kash takes the last few steps alone, beaming. "You're here!" By no, there's no missing Kash's condition: she's still small for being twenty-four weeks along, but you couldn't really mistake her bump for being anything else. Isobel spins round and beams, and rushes forward to hug Nakasha in greeting, baby bump or no. "Nakasha! Hello," she says happily. "I was hoping I'd get to see you since I missed you last time I came up. How are you doing?" She does remember, belatedly, to thank her benefactor with a grateful smile. Said benefactor rolls her eyes at Isobel, a gesture that Kash, facing the other direction can't see, but smiles anyway. A head bob later, and she's gone again, leaving the two girls to their conversation. Kash reaches out to return the hug, amused more than surprised, and still visibly thrilled. "I'm glad!" she declares, delightedly. "I was hoping to get down to visit /you/, but between the snow and the mud, and..." You know, says the twist of her features. Everything. "I'm good, really good. Getting fat. What about you? How's Fort?" "Oh it's very nice, but spring cannot come soon enough for us. I miss being able to walk in the gardens. Though people have been kind enough to convey me here to visit often, which is lovely. Last winter I nearly went stir-crazy. It's nice to get out, even if the flying part is terribly cold," Isobel chatters happily. "Let's go somewhere and sit! Do you know any place quiet?" she asks, with just the slightest emphasis on the last word, and a glance round at the people walking through the corridor. The chatter seems only to enthuse Nakasha, who does plenty of her own on a regular basis. "Winter was really pretty, but this part? Ugh. Just so glad that it'll get properly warm again before too much longer, so's I can go out more often. Could've stayed at Tillek if I just wanted cool and damp, you know?" She has to consider the other girl's question for a moment, before suggesting, "Maybe a table in the corner of the commons? Or there might be a quiet corner in the Glass Fountain, this time of day." Isobel hmms. "Whichever has the least nosy people around," she says. "The tables here are usually alright, aren't they, though? ...have you seen the weyrling dragons? They seem to have gotten huge. They've grown again every time I come, it's amazing." She holds her hands a foot apart - probably an exaggeration, but only just. Nakasha hesitates for a moment, then leads Isobel off (or, at least, /she/ strides off in one direction, presumably intending Isobel to follow behind her) towards, sure enough, a quiet corner and an empty table. "Only from afar," she reports, of the weyrling dragons. And; "Not because I'm, like, still jealous and upset or anything. It's just not been convenient. I guess they have a lot of growing to do? I mean, if you remember how tiny they were when they hatched, compared to fully grown ones." She may be talking to herself, of course, at this point, if Isobel hasn't followed behind. "How's your brother doing?" Isobel follows readily enough. "He's doing quite well, and Khazioth is just adorable," she gushes. "He's the biggest sweetheart, really. At're says he can be obnoxious, but he never is to /me/." As they sit down at the table, she adds, "You will get another chance, I know you will. It will all work out." Almost literally collapsing into her chair, Kash nods merrily enough as Isobel speaks; her hands, probably without her knowing, slide around to settle atop her belly. "Is he? Good. I'm glad." Of the latter comment, she nods, albeit haltingly. "Right. Eventually. It's okay, though, Isobel. I'm over it. I mean, not that I don't want to try again, but... what can you do? Anyway, all the dragons found people, so probably I wouldn't have Impressed anyway." "Well yes but you could argue they were scraping the bottom of the barrel," Isobel says with a giggle, but she's polite enough at least not to name names, despite the dig at whoever-it-is. "Do you still - is your - I'm going to put my foot in it if you're not, but are you still in touch with, you know, your young man?" There's a flare of gossipy interest in Kash's gaze at Isobel's giggled comment, and her own remark is equally light; "And which do you think fall in that category, Isobel?" She sounds amused. Then, though, after a faltering beat, she gives a hesitant nod. "Sort of? He--" She breaks off, frowns. "Wanted me to come visit, after the hatching. I had to say now. He--" Beat. "Still doesn't know, and doesn't need to. But it's awkward." "Oh, there are one or two," Isobel says with another laugh, though she shows a pang of regret for the unkind comment, and doesn't seem inclined to name names. When Nakasha explains, about the babydaddy, her eyes widen, but she nods. "I hadn't realized he didn't know. Don't you think - wouldn't he want to? I mean, don't /you/ want him to know?" She doesn't get why not. Nakasha obviously wants to know /who/, but she's polite enough, at least, not to push too hard for it: she just raises her eyebrows to give Isobel a questioning look, instead. Of her babydaddy, she sort of winces. "Of course I do. More than anything. But I can't. It'd raise all kinds of problems... he still has the opportunity to make a good marriage, you know? Holder good. Can't take that from him." Beat. "It'd kill his mother, I think, for him to marry a holder girl from nowhere." Isobel looks a little bit sad for Nakasha. "It's too bad you can't - tell him and just, you know, stay friends. It would be hard, of course, but the baby wouldn't stop him from making a marriage and... then you could see him sometimes." "He'd want to marry me, though, and that's the other problem," explains Nakasha. "Because I still want to Stand again, you know? So it's just... really messy." She looks troubled, too, hesitating before she adds, "I wouldn't see him, if he were married. It wouldn't be fair." Isobel hesitates, then nods slowly. "Some people have... arrangements. But you couldn't count on that, I suppose. And either way, it would be hard. I'm sorry, Nakasha, that's really rotten, and there's not a thing to be done about it." Nakasha gives Isobel a level glance. "Would you like your husband to have an arrangement with someone else? Someone who already has his baby?" She shakes her head, managing a brief, if somewhat weak, smile. "Exactly. It'll be okay, though, really. I'm okay about it. It's just... better this way." "It would depend, I suppose," Isobel says diffidently. "Perhaps not, but one doesn't always get a choice about such things. I'm glad you're okay. Not that - I mean, I wouldn't think you /wouldn't/ be. You seem like the sort of person who... who just /is/." Nakasha can't help it: she laughs outright. "I hope I am that kind of person," she tells Isobel, with a grin that's much more like her usual expression. "I think so. I'm trying to be, anyway." Beat. "Anyway, tell me more about what's up with you? No potential husbands around, yet?" "None that my father have told me about, but," Isobel says, and then pauses for a long moment. "Can you keep a secret? I mean, a very important one. Not just an embarrassing one. But it would cause a... a great deal of trouble for me if it were told, and... well. If you don't think you can, that's alright." Can't be too careful. The long moment, there's no doubt about it, captures Nakasha's interest, and she waits with eyebrows raised. "I'd never tell anyone," she promises, one hand lifting to lay over her heart. "/Never/. What is it, Isobel?" She lowers her voice, leaning forward. "Well," Isobel says, hesitant and embarrassed. "There's someone I - like. Quite a lot, actually, and... I don't really know what I am going to do about it. I don't suppose really there is anything to be done. I've always been - I was always going to marry where my father told me to and that can't really change, not even if... but I don't know." Nakasha's "Oh!" is more a breath than an actual word, and she looks-- gleeful? Not quite gleeful, but entranced, perhaps. "Isobel! How delicious, and awful, all at the same time. He's not someone you can marry, then? Even if you asked super nice, or something?" Isobel shakes her head ruefully. "No. I couldn't. It's not possible. He's - he lives here. He keeps asking me if I'll just defy my father and stay here and I... I /could/, but I just wouldn't be comfortable or happy. And father would be so upset. And I would feel as if I had abandoned everything I've worked for all my life. It's, I don't know what I am going to do." She bites her lip. Nakasha's face falls entirely, and she reaches across, evidently intending to take Isobel's hand, if she can. "Oh, /Isobel/." There's enough similarity in their situations that it's no wonder she reacts like this; she looks devastated. "Oh, I'm so sorry. That's awful." Isobel reaches for Nakasha's hand, too, now free to show the misery she feels openly on her face. "I wish he wouldn't keep asking me what I'm going to do. I just don't know. I've never - I didn't think anything like this was going to ever /happen/ to me. I thought I'd just marry a lord's son and be happy." Squeezing Isobel's hand, Nakasha keeps her gaze trained on Isobel's face, nodding as she listens. Something, though, that Isobel says makes her blink, and there's a moment of consideration to follow. Then, in a voice that is artificially casual, she asks, "Do you know if your father has considered Kezend of Boll?" Lord Boll's grandson, a young man only a few turns older than the two girls. "He's not... you know, a /son/ or heir or anything, I suppose." Isobel shrugs slightly. "He wouldn't tell me if he had. It's possible. But I know he wants me to marry an heir, if he can manage it. It's not - it's by no means certain, but my mother was Ruathan." She sighs quietly. "Why, is he...? /Oh/." Belatedly, she catches on. "He's your young man, isn't he. I couldn't do that to you, Nakasha!" "Pity," says Kash of wanting her to marry an heir, though she inclines her head, evidently understanding. As Isobel catches on, she shrugs. "It'd work, though, wouldn't it? You'd be free to still care about your-- whoever he is. And so would Kez. So we'd all be happy." "You mean..." Isobel catches her breath. "Oh. It /could/ work, couldn't it? If his father were to make a good enough offer to mine... which grandson is he? Not the heir's son, I suppose? Does he stand to inherit anything at all?" she asks, thinking hard. Then she looks apologetic. "I'm sorry, that must sound terribly mercenary." Nakasha's nod is an enthusiastic one, her eyes lit brightly. "Not the heir's no, unfortunately. That'd make it more convenient, wouldn't it? But he's very close to his grandmother, the Lady Holder. Bet they could come up with something... I mean, he's been trained up to be useful. Steward, eventually, but maybe something else? I don't know. Could find out." She shakes her head, as she adds, then, "Not at all. I get it. Would've been the same for my parents, if on a different level. If I'd been getting married." Isobel nods, her enthusiasm for the idea growing. "And I expect he'd want legitimate sons, so that I'd have to ah.. you know. At least a few times. But apart from that..." she makes an 'all yours' gesture to Nakasha. Then she laughs. "Oh, that /could/ work. Do you suppose - could you get him to request it? It wouldn't be at all proper for me to, and you'd have to talk to him anyhow or he wouldn't know what was going on." "Of course." Nakasha makes a face, at this idea of Isobel sleeping with 'her' man (or perhaps just Isobel sleeping with someone at all? Who knows), but she seems calm enough about it. "Just the way it is, don't worry about that." She grins, even. "I-- right. I guess that means I need to tell him. About me. But make him promise not to tell anyone, because... you know, that would just cause problems." Despite her enthusiasm, she looks thoughtful, and finally shakes her head. "Has to be done, I suppose." Rueful grin. "Do you think we could really pull it off without anyone finding out?" Isobel asks. Maybe the whole thing is just too good to be true. "It /would/ be perfectly lovely, if we could. I... I suppose there is no harm in /trying/." She looks wistful, hopeful. Could it really work? The wistful has Nakasha all the more determined in her nod. "I don't see why not. If your father approves, then why not? What's there to find out, really, except that Kezend of Boll would like to marry Isobel of Gar? The rest is... secondary." Beat. "He's a nice man. I think you'll like him; there are a lot worse people to be married to." Isobel smiles. "Of course. He must be nice if you get on with him so well. You should write to him, and we can... ah! I know what we'll do." She thumps the table. "We can plan it so that he and I meet at one of the spring Gathers and right there in front of everyone, fall madly in love at first sight, and dance together all night long. If it's so public, no one can doubt. It will be the talk of the holds, and as much as my father wants a match that will make him wealthy, he /does/ want me to be happy, too - so, if the offer were good enough..." Nakasha's expression is fond. If not outright lovesick. The thump on the table, though, makes her jump, and then she giggles. "Oh-- Isobel you are /crafty/. That's perfect." Her smile is enthusiastic, and utterly, utterly determined. "I can go Between for another couple of weeks, they think. I'll get someone to take me tomorrow, if I can. I'd rather tell him in person." Given... she indicates her middle, vaguely. Things. "We'll work it out." Isobel nods her head. "Yes, and when it's all set up, write me - better not put that in writing, but oh, I don't know, put something in about getting a baby blanket from your mother, and I'll know to look for you on my next visit to get the details." Nakasha fastens a very long look on Isobel, and then, once more, giggles. "/Code/ now, too? Shells! This is kind of exciting." She nods, though, as she carefully hoists herself up to her feet. "I should go. But. I will, absolutely. As soon as I can. It was--" And then she just beams. "I'm /so/ glad you came to find me." Isobel gets up, too, giggling happily along with Nakasha. "Me too! It's so exciting. I can't wait to tell M'try. I won't tell him everything, only that... that there might be a way." "/M'try/." Nakasha repeats the name with emphasis, waggling her eyebrows at Isobel as, once again, she bursts into giggles. "That's probably a good idea. The fewer people who know, for now, the better, right?" This time, she's the one who leans in to hug the other girl, before she darts away again, hurrying off as quickly as she can, given her heavier bulk. Isobel hugs back, and tromps out to the bowl to meet her ride home, giddily happy for the first time since hatching day. |
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