==== January 1st 2014
==== Nora, Lisette
==== Nora and Lisette meet up at the Tipsy Kitten. Have a few drinks, talk and go dancing.

Who Nora, Lisette
What Nora and Lisette meet up at the Tipsy Kitten. Have a few drinks, talk and go dancing.
When There are 0 turns, 3 months and 21 days until the 12th pass.
Where The Tipsy Kitten

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The Tipsy Kitten
Here there be drunkards: a marble bar and the gorgeous array of colored bottles behind it would be enough to draw them in, but more yet lures those to enjoy the recreation the Kitten has to offer. Windows allow light to naturally illuminate the first floor of the tavern in the daytime, while green-tinted glows shine after nightfall. A door behind the bar leads to the tiny kitchen, while a stairway leads above to the rooms available for rent. Among the hubbub and the ruckus, a calamity of tables scatter through the open space, plenty enough for dragonpoker tournaments on restday eve.


Spring is a nice time to go out to the bar and get a drink. But the time is just starting to edge past when you get your first drink. Patrons are onto their second and third. While the habitual drunkards are already getting way beyond that. A trio of harpers have taken it upon themselves to provide musical entertainment for the evening and this has led to the inevitable girls-dancing-on-tables that has been known to happen. Tonight, Lisette is one of those girls. When the current number ends and she finds her glass empty, she hits the tavern floor and strolls to the bar. Flushed face and tousled hair, she looks like she's having a good time so far.

There's a certain amount of revelry that's expected from a bar hitting its stride, but when Nora arrives, well, she wasn't expecting it to be quite so raucous as to find actual girls dancing on actual tables. Of course, it's no surprise, as the music winds down and one of the dancers reclaims her drink and heads for a refill, that it's Lisette. The assistant headwoman sways into the line behind her. "If only we could find some way to put your talents and enthusiasms to good use," she teases, leaning in just enough so that she's not talking to herself. Though hey, it's loud, maybe Lisette will miss it anyway.

She's having such a good time that she doesn't even notice that Nora is right there near her. The girl gets through re-ordering her drink and having it filled before the words filter across the noise and penetrate her skull. Her eyebrows pop up in a bit of surprise and she turns partially around, giving the assistant a look over her shoulder. The gears are turning on the prospects of her possible response, hedging her bets, weighing the risks. "Too bad you don't have naked dancing in the living cavern. I'm sure I could be good at that." Not that she's naked now or… shown any inclinations towards actually stripping down.

Nora's gears might be turning too, lashes narrowed as she slips in to occupy space with an elbow on the bar even if she's not actually ordering anything yet. "Do you think you'd have to be naked? Maybe we could at least stick some little patches on you in certain places, you know, to spare the children. And the elderly." She cracks a smirk, even if the wheels are still turning a bit behind her gaze, and she gestures for the bartender to ask for a glass of wine.

"I hear the naked girls get better tips." Lisette is quick to respond, tipping her recently refilled glass back and swallowing. And while she's now received hers and Nora is ordering, she doesn't make a move to leave the counter. Instead she squirms backwards, bumping into a patron next to her. "Oh, sorry." There's a brainless laugh from her and the person, annoyed, turns away again. But she's earned the both of them some inches of valuable real estate. "I think the patches would take away from the overall effect." She responds airly, likely encouraged to say stupid things by the liquid courage in her hand. Afterall, she normally treats the assiant with a bit more caution than she currently is. "I haven't ruined anything in the laundries." Recently. Just worked painfully slow.

Nora wrinkles her nose for the tips, if only because, "Considering there aren't any tips currently, that can only be an improvement, I suppose." But she shrugs a shoulder, all fitting in with the ploy that they're actually discussing this avenue of employment. By the time her wine is poured, there's plenty of room here at the bar, perhaps even a stool, and Nora tips her head that Lisette can take it if she likes. And she'll lift her fresh glass to offer a clink of congratulations. "Weavers across the world breathe a sigh of relief," she declares with teasing triumph. "Maybe one of these days, we'll even let you wash the nice things." Then, finally, she can take her sip. "Are you okay in there, though?" she asks a bit more seriously, even if Lisette's airy demeanor might suggest this isn't the best time for serious questions. "I can't remember which jobs we've tried already."

"Exactly. I'm basically an entrepreneural genius." Lisette flips her hair over her shoulder, a little flare to show just how confident she is about this topic. Annoying the person behind her seems a much better activity than taking the bar stool, so she leans back and brushes into the man again and waves Nora on to take it herself. The man is glancing back again, surprised. But more presently, "Oh, no. That's quite alright. I like dealing with the towels. They're nice and simple. No one is so attached to any of them." Another generous swallow has her paused before she can answer the next question, the more serious one. "Lets see… Kitchen assistant, barmaid, nanny," She'll actually grimace on that last one, "Line attendent, latrine cleaner, garden weeder, I think that's it." Tagging on there at the end, "Laundry is okay."

Is there a little lift of Nora's brow when Lisette manages to get 'entrepreneurial' out despite the drink in her hand? Why yes, just a bit. But if the laundress doesn't want the stool, Nora will be happy to take it, easing herself onto a seat with her legs crossed, white skirt smoothed over her knee and a bare ankle stuck out for the unintentional display of a nice wedge sandal. The list is recalled with a bob of her head, but it's only, "If you're happy, I'm happy," in the end; she's not, it would seem, too intent on talking shop over drinks after hours. Because instead, she's wondering, "Are you close with the proprietor? Up on the tables and all."

Could be. If Nora's eyebrow is lifting, the teenager doesn't seem to notice a thing about it. She seems relieved that no one is going to make her go through another play by play of what will make her happy at work, so the conversation on that topic effectively closes right around there. She presses her drink to her face, glancing towards the bartender when Nora poses her question. "Not really. But they're not here right now." A long finger is pressed to her lips and she makes a quiet 'shhhhh' noise. As if the loads and loads of witnesses don't count at all.

Nora's eyes widen a little, if only in the play of these secrety secrets they're sharing, her shoulders hunching up to mimic some guise of furtiveness. But it's all gone a second later as she straightens tall and lets her glance skim the bar to find, it's true, the proprietor doesn't seem to be present. "Did you come with anyone or are you just here on your own?" she asks as some group of teenagers help another table-dancer down to the floor, the question too guileless to sound like a pick up line.

"I came alone. I usually come alone." Which doesn't carry the sentiment of loneliness one might expect it to. As with most other things, there's a flippant edge to it and she juts her hip into the bar. The glass is still cradled closely and after flashing her gaze to the group across the room, she brings her eyes back around to Nora once more. "Are you checking to see if I have a date? I don't normally go home with girls, but for you I could make an exception." Her lips curl teasingly and it would all seem much more serious if she had the reputation for being that sort of a person. However that's one of the few things a person would claim of her.

It's only after Lisette calls her on it that Nora recognizes the line she's just used, a blink at nothing to fill a nonplussed moment before she lets out a bright laugh. "Yes, absolutely. We'd be gorgeous together. Harpers would immortalize our love in song." She pairs with with a lofty shake of her chin in the air, all melodrama. "Painters would beg us to pose for them. Wildmen would come in from the wilderness, civilized and reformed, just by the thought of you and me together." She takes a long, wistful breath and lets it out in a quiet sigh. And then she shrugs. "Too bad, really." Since neither of them have a reputation for that sort of thing. "Maybe after a few more drinks? For the good of humanity." Yeah yeah, Lisette already said she'd make the exception, but it's more amusing this way.

"Our tryst would make Southern the cultural center of all Pern. I can't think of any downsides to it." Because men everywhere would absolutely flock to see two, tall, skinny, near-alabaster skinned women going at it. They couldn't possibly resist. Lisette doesn't seem to have a problem with the 'after a few more drinks?' part and tips hers back. It's polished off and she inches the empty glass back across the bar to the man working the counter. "I'll admit though, I'm not much interested in altruism. Hey-" The refill comes quickly and she thanks the bartender. "Hey, did you come to this weyr from another weyr? Or are you holdbred? I'm from nowhere really and I thought the men here would be more…" She waves a hand around as if searching for a word. "Aggressive? Motivated? Really I've just met a lot of brooders."

"Really?" There's no surprise in Nora's voice. "I'd never have guessed. How about fame and praise?" The lift of her brow tries to add a little more pizzazz to those motivations, but the switch of the topic is quick and the assistant headwoman, not even through her first glass, skips easily along with it. "Yes and… yes. Holdbred, from another Weyr." As for the men, now she casts her eye around the bar again, taking a topic count of the males present. "You came to Southern for the aggressive men?" She finds that dubious, pinching at her mouth. "There are always some. Especially once they have a few drinks in them." An idle finger suggests a ruddy man in the corner. Not that he's actively pawing or groping at anyone just this second.

"Fame and praise, much more appealing. Adoring fans." Lisette doesn't drink this one as quickly, instead she's being a bit more conservative. Possibly because it isn't the first one. "Were you born and then raised or?" She wonders, probing gently and briefly at Nora's background before moving onto some clarification. Tipping her chin up, she laughs and then shakes her head. "No, no. I was searched. But what I mean is- Aggressive wasn't the right word. They're just lacking, something is lacking in a lot of them. Motivation was a good word- Drive? It's nice to be pursued. And these ones?" She gestures again, this time towards the ruddy man in the corner. "Meh. Boring. Brooding and boring."

Nora hurries a swallow to say, "Yes." Born and raised, that's her! There's only a beat of smug grin, though, before she expands with, "The same. Born, raised at Telgar. Then searched." That's the short of it. But nevermind that, because Nora just became friends with Lisette. Something else engages behind her eyes as she lets out an emphatic, "Right? You'd think, a whole new Weyr, it would just be teaming with people who want grab opportunities and make something of it. And it's not like there aren't any people like that just… I'd have thought there would be more?" So maybe it's not exactly the kind of drive Lisette was talking about. "People who are excited to do something, to build something. Maybe everyone is just a little more… patient than I am." Though now the eye that flicks about is narrowed with a bit more calculation.

"Was that weyr different from this one?" Lisette wonders, glancing around at the tavern before dropping her eyes onto Nora again. "Sure, you'd think that. But no, everyone just wants you wash the laundry and stop burning their soup. And then they want to sit around at dinner and talk to you about their babies. Like you'd want to even be near their babies, little bundles of disease." She wrinkles her nose as she apparently jumps from one topic of annoyance to the next, because why not? "Maybe they were all hoping for a lot of something and then nothing happened and now they're all just stuck sitting in the corner like that." That's her hypothesis.

Nora answer the question with a quick nod; it was a different Weyr. She might actually say which one if she wasn't so captivated by the turn of discussion. "There is a certain… Just going about life. Maybe a little less now," since the end of the world and everything, except for the part where the world ended and then seems to have gone back to normal. "But still. Sometimes it just feels like everyone has blinders on." Her free hand comes up in description, cupped at the side of her face. "I appreciate focus, getting things done — the washing, the cooking, tending the kids — but… I don't know." There's still something leaving her unsatisfied. "Maybe it's just too much. Maybe it's just too scary."

Nora nods and she does notice, as much as she doesn't actually formulate another question to ask. Instead, "Well. They do say that things grind to a halt during a Pass. Everyone gets all focused on just trying to survive." Lisette looks around the bar again, taking another sip from that glass. This time she seems almost thoughtful, not as flippant and absurd as usual. "Though you could say things already came to halt in the interval last go around. Maybe we're just a little fucked and a little behind to make any good progress for awhile."

Nora gives a little shake of her head, a thoughtful frown tugging at her mouth. "It's not just that. I'd be okay if everyone was just focused on the Pass. But it's like you said, the soup and the babies. Maybe it's just, the more overwhelming things are, the more we focus on things that are small and close and… things we can do something about." The notion is still lingering for another beat, another mouthful of wine, and then her expression breaks into a smirk. "Oh, you definitely had some kind of halt in this interval."

"Mm, well." Lisette could have something deep and insightful to say here. But instead, she just smirks at Nora over the top of her glass and looks painfully, painfully young and dopey. She is under twenty after all. What comes out? "At least we're still making some killer drinks." And is that the trio of harpers beginning to play again. The headwoman is flashed a smile as she pushes off the bar counter and walks backwards to the crowd. Can the crook of her finger entice her? Or does she end up back out there dancing alone? No hard feelings.

Ah, the painfully young and dopey look. Nora sucks her teeth and then takes it in stride. "At least there's that," she'll say agreeably, lifting her glass by the stem. It's not finished yet, and maybe she should just sit here at the bar and drink and watch and contemplate the mood of the Weyr, but there's that enticing finger and music and… she does like dancing. She takes her glass with her, so perhaps she won't throw herself entirely into the air of revelry, but she can at least shimmy along for a little while. Why not! Her excuses for bowing out can come when she finds the bottom of her glass.

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