Logs:The Blood That Counts
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| RL Date: 27 April, 2011 |
| Who: Emmeline, Tomaeran |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Everyone feel sorry for Tom's wife. |
| Where: Settlement, Western Island |
| When: Day 9, Month 8, Turn 25 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: Seani/Mentions |
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| Her last teaching duty of the day - Emmeline walks behind a line of children, herding them towards the bonfire pit and the sets of benches that have been so carefully laid out. "Go on now. Get ready for dinner." But at least the young women who directs them all waits until they're out of sight before sinking onto a bench with an expression of pure unadulterated relief. WHEW. It may get her out of some of the more onerus island chores, but it's still a handful of a job! How convenient: Tomaeran's sitting on one of the benches just opposite Emmeline's, though he looks rather less relieved to be finished a day's work. Truthfully, he almost looks like he's never /done/ one. For the moment, the tall blond is using a carefully sharpened stick of driftwood to clean under his nails, a process that apparently takes most of his attention, though he does glance up, breezily, to watch the onslought of children. "They work you too hard, Emme," he remarks, all lazy drawl. "You ought to tell them you need some time off." Emmeline is envious of Tom's casual posture. And she eyeballs the way he's able to clean up under his nails like that, since her own nails have crackdust knows what underneath them after taking care of kids all day. "I already took a few days." she admits, though she's not too proud to stretch out on the bench like she intends to use it for a makeshift hammock. An uncomfortable one. "You look pretty relaxed. Should I ask what chore you've been at all day? Wanna trade?" She flashes a dimpled smile, knowing full well that the answer would be a resounding no from most anyone. Smirking, "Not likely! Me and kids-- we don't really get along." Tom moves along to the next finger, flicking minute bits of sand as he works. It cannot exactly be said that his fingernails were all that dirty to begin with. His brilliant, charismatic smile is presumably intended as encouragement. "My mother," sister of the exile's current leader, a proud woman, "wanted some assistance in her hut. Moving things around, mostly. We managed to finish hours ago, though, so that was nice." Which means he's not exactly been working /hard/. Not that this is atypical. "Ah well, there go al my hopes and dreams." Emme jokes, propping her head against her outstretched arms while she listens. "So you basically got to do pretty much nothing today. Lucky. The kids really aren't that bad. Just so full of energy." And she is the last one to want to be seen complaining. "You seem to get lucky like that a lot. Must be nice." Oddly, there's no hint of malice or bitterness in that tone. Just dry amusement. Tomaeran gives Emme a dimpled smile, shrugging his shoulders lazily. "It's just the way Mother is," he tells her, semi-apologetic, except for the way it... isn't, entirely. Maybe that's because there's a hint of smugness to it, nonetheless. "You know what she's like. Anyway, Ani needs me to fix our roof, tomorrow, so it's not as though I get out of /everything/." Ani being Seani, his wife. "I can't say I'm looking forward to that. Why'd you take the days off?" Good thing Emme knows better then to sneer; though there's just a wee tiny hint of it in her return smile. "Mmm. I'm sure you'll do a great job on that roof, too." She's being sincere there, right? Of course she is. "No reason you'd be interested in." She fends off the question with a flick of her wrist and wave of the hand. "Do let Ani know if she needs some help cleaning up after the roof is fixed I'd be glad to bring over some of the older kids and help." she offers, thinking perhaps she can help ensure future islander adults aren't lazy bums! "They're almost as far as I can take them with lessons, so it will be up to others to show them crafts and survival skills. Keeping house is one of them." Tomaeran raises sculpted (how DOES he manage those?) brows in question at the way she deflects the question, but he lets it stand. Examining his fingernails with diligent thoughtfulness, he remarks, "I'm sure she'd be delighted. She likes the little--" Beat. Pause. "kids." Of which they have none. One 'accident', which resulted in their marriage, some seven turns ago, but which died at birth. And since then... nothing. "I'd offer to let them help me with the roof, but I really don't know. I'd get no peace if the roof kept leaking, not with autumn coming." Emmeline indeed wonders how he manages that particular look with his eyebrows, and her own brow furrows when she watches them raise in question like that. "Good then. I'll bring them over." she decides, sitting up again finally so that she can nod at his comment about fixing the roof. "That's quite alright. With Autumn coming it -is- far more important to have it fixed properly. You wouldn't want either of you to fall ill." She knows the story of how they wound up married alright, but like most... she's probably not going to touch it with a ten foot pole. "I just want the kids to have something a little different to do, and give Ani a hand at the same time. Maybe if she'd like to help work with some of the littles when we go on our 'outings', I mean... since she likes the kids." Hmm, awkward. Apparently satisfied with the state of his fingernails, even if he casts a dolorous glance at the somewhat rough condition of his hands, Tom drops them back to his lap and glances across at Emmeline again. "Mm, indeed. Well," and he smiles at her, dimples and all, faintly flirtacious despite the fact that they've been talking about his wife, "I'll suggest it to her. She might like the change of pace. It seems like it's nice for people, to do something different every so often. And it might make up for things." Like her lack of babies, something he's apparently very blase about. "Where do you take them, anyway? Just... around the islands?" She may just start feeling sorry for Ani at this rate, most especially when she finds herself on the receiving end of even a faintly flirtatious smile. AN eyebrow quirks just a little with his breezy tone. "Oh, yes. I'd agree. It's nice for us all to get a change of pace sometimes." She even shrugs a bit, gesturing vaguely towards the islandscape and the sea beyond. "Yes, just around the islands. They become familiar with every inch of it by the time they're reaching maturity that way." Yes, sadly, she does have a reason for everything. Little Miss Serious. "We stay clear of the cliffs and the caves. Otherwise, it's all fair game. There's some different types of fish at the inland pools. And a few other oddities that provide a break from the usual routine. Maybe we should have them shown how to gather the materials we're using to make the new huts?" Feeling sorry for Ani is probably the smartest move. Tom doesn't seem to be especially concerned about the well-being of his wife. "I suppose you might as well. I guess I remember doing that kind of thing when I was a kid." Vaguely. His brow knits as though he has to think pretty hard to remember back that far. "Though it's not as though they can get /lost/ or anything." He stretches out, now, using his arms to support him as he extends his feet towards the low-burning fire. "Don't you get tired of it all? Like - I don't know. Showing yet another group of kids the extent of their... cage. 'Oh, look at all this neat stuff', except there's got to be better stuff that we don't get to see." "I get tired of more then you might think." Emme admits, a hint of melancholy tugging her smile back down. "But it is what it is, Tom. Fact is, we're stuck here and we have to make the best of it. We grow up, work hard, get married off to someone, have kids if you're lucky, and then work some more. We've no way to get off this Island and try something new. No way to just have something or maybe even someone we *want*, and there's no room for change, or mistakes. So yeah, I get tired of it all. I'd bet almost all of us do. That's why we make the best of it when and where we can." Ugh, she really /is/ starting to sound like an elder. "And, of course, hope that someone finally finds us." Tomaeran sort of wrinkles his nose at that answer; definitely too much like an elder. Definitely too sensible, too reasonable. He lets out a long, low sigh instead. "Mother tells me that someone's going to find us, one day. That it's inevitable, and when we do, we'll all come into our own again. Those of us with the Blood that counts, anyway." But he looks impatient. "It seems like some people don't /want/ us to be found, though. Like... they think we're better off here. Like anything out there isn't good enough. It's stupid, right? It's probably just because they'd be just as stupidly low born there, too. I guess that's the way it is: some people are just born better than the others. Like - look at Ani. She's a sweet girl. But she doesn't have the Blood." "You would do well to remember that those 'low born' people who aren't of the blood teach the children, gather your food, build your huts, and supply the wisdom that's helped us survive this long." Emmeline snaps, her eyes crackling now with an incensed and simmering anger. "I'm not a full blood, I'm what... half? Maybe more? And yet here you are spilling your guts to me even though I'm a no good low born." she points out, standing up now with a fist clenched at her side. "And Ani is your /wife/. She was good enough for you to fuck and get pregnant, but suddenly if we're rescued she'd be no good? Is that what /all/ of you think?" Someone is aghast. Truly aghast. "It's always been obvious there's tension betweent the blooded and not, but... that's just." The vehemence of Emmeline's reaction seems to surprise Tom, though he does little more than give her a lingering glance; certainly, his pose of absolutely relaxation doesn't shift. "Well, aren't you feeling feisty today," he says, chortling. "Of course she wouldn't be good enough. Shells, if we're rescued, there's no way I'll be 'married'. She knows that. A person has to know their place." And Emme is included that, however unspoken it is. "Don't forget that, little teacher girl. Because we certainly will not." This has definitely been a few days full of unwelcome information shoved in Emmeline's face, that's for certain. "Well, little lazy ass - I will be certain to remember it if we're rescued." No mention of what she's going to do with that rememberance. But it probably doesn't include kowtowing to Tom, if her reaction is any indication. Whatever else she's thinking is kept to herself when she walks away as well, before she does something -really- stupid. And Tom? He just /laughs/. He seems to genuinely not care what Emmeline thinks - or feels. But... that's about par for the course, really. |
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