Who

Ember, Naneska

What

…about girls in the candidate barracks. Just because it's after curfew doesn't mean that Ember and Naneska can't catch up! You can't tell them how to live their lifes! (But it's weird how much they have in common…Perhaps Igen should fear.)

Off-color Meta~

When

It is late night of the thirteenth day of the second month of the seventeenth turn of the 12th pass.

Where

Candidate Barracks, Igen Weyr

OOC Date 26 May 2019 12:00

 

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"I can dig a hot blue rider." Beat. "Well, any hot guy. I just never keep them for long."


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Candidate Barracks

Hopes, dreams, and fears are contained in these cramped quarters, full of small cots and smaller trunks; thin ragged curtains barely provide privacy between the bunks, shining patches in the material suggesting one too many mending attempts. The minimal floor space is kept clear of debris and personal possessions, wide enough for a single broad table often used for study in the art of dragon care. It is a cramped space despite it all, when dragoneggs lie upon the Sands: there's no helping the worn surroundings, when use is at an all-time high. Near the entrance, one cubby exists, large enough to contain a bit of luxury for an adult overseer of the candidates, and a desk — for once in reasonable shape — is set to the left of the entrance, conveniently placed for the monitoring of comings and goings.


Nighttime: the lights are out, the children are snoozing, and Ember is padding on wet slippers into the barracks from an obvious bath. Towel doubles 'round her body, her hair is wet and tumbles down her back, and she's got a cutesie girlie basket of soaps hooked over her arm. She dumped her stuff on a random bed and hasn't really checked on it since she dashed off for her bath. Girl's gotta have priorities! Stifling a yawn behind her hand, she shuffles through the quiet barracks. Doot-de-doot.

You know who else isn't a child? Naneska, and really, she hasn't gone to bed early in turns! So instead she's quietly but rather obviously not sleeping on a top bunk towards the rear of the barracks. One of the perks of being an early candidate? You can pick out a choice sleeping space, Naneska's is far enough away from the ever present chaperone not to be immediately noticed, but also far enough away from the girls who do nothing but giggle about boys at all hours of the day and night. Ember's random bed is close enough that the trader can comment in low tones not meant to carry far. "Guess yer not beggin' after all." HAI EMBER! FANCY MEETING YOU HERE!

Ember, lost in her own thoughts as well as thinking to herself how grateful she is to not be with the giggling girls, jerks to a stop when she hears Naneska's voice. "You!" her cried out whisper stirs those around them, their soft snores halting into irritated mumblings. "You," she whispers more quietly, nimbly walking forward on her toes. It turns out her slippers are absolutely adorable: little bunny faces with jaunty, dancing bunny ears that bob with every step. Their beady little black eyes glint in the available light. "Nah. Not begging, eh? I got out of dodge, I did." And became a Candidate. "Also, figure I'll get to see them babies hatch up close," she adds with a crooked grin.

Naneska wriggles her fingers from on high. She's settled cross-legged as not to disturb anyone below (is there anyone below?). But soon decides to slip quietly down from her perch so that don't inadverdantly awaken any cranky pants. "Cute slippers." Those little black beady eyes positively beg for some kind of compliment. "I'll do ye one better." Naneska whispers, settling herself on the bed Ember has claimed. "I feckin' asked didn't I?" Pretty much everyone and their dog (including Naneska) seem surprised by that little info-nugget. "Aye, n so long as ye keep ye wits about ye…" She pauses to glance over her shoulder at the giggle group significantly. "…shouldn't be too dangerous." Fingers crossed, knocked on wood.

"You asked?" Ember tosses her stuff on her bed — she is not the neatest of people; Faranth help her bunkmate — and grabs a shirt to quickly throw over herself so she can ditch the towel. Then she's climbing up the ladder to plop right next to Naneska, wet butt and all. Hope Naneska likes company! She smells good, trailing a delightfully fresh scent of lavender and lemongrass. "Do tell." The demand is given with all the hunger for juicy details. Danger is waved away for gossip. Ember is an enterprising little soul and it shows, though therein resides true friendship, too. Or the potential for it, at any rate.
"Oh, and thanks," belatedly added cause her player is lame. "I got cat ones too." She wiggles her toes, making the bunnies move of their own accord.

Story time is ON! Because Naneska comes from people who like a good yarn!. "I was jist sittin' in the pub mindin' me own business, when I'dre…" Of course her narrative may wander, much like her life. "I'dre is a very nice lookin' bluerider I met a few days earlier by th' star stones." With that aside out of the way, back to the main story. "…comes sits next t' me despite the pub bein' empty as a Bitran's heart." Considering the whole STORY is being told in a broad Bitran accent, it is entirely possible she's being ironic. "Anywho, we gets t' talkin' and he was all like 'Ye know ye can ask right'? And I didn't know." Despite living in close proximity to the Weyr for a number of turns now. "I think me cousin didn't want me t' know." Another aside, another story for later. "So he was makin' a big deal out o' me askin. Then he said his dragon thought I should ask too! So I marched on up to Cremla, and… asked." The conclusion needs work, as indicated by her frown. "Oh and I'dre ran away before I got t' th' headwoman." THE END?!? Maybe. "Oooh, Where'd ye get them?" While slippers might not seem like something that would be in demand in a desert weyr, the current winter temperatures could be creating a market right as the girls (who are both awesome btw <3) talk.

What is a wet spot between friends?

Ember squints a little trying to follow the in-roads of Naneska's story, but she gamely leans closer at certain parts. "Ohhhh. A hot blue rider coaxed you into asking and here you are. I can dig a hot blue rider." Beat. "Well, any hot guy. I just never keep them for long." She waves her hand, dismissing the idea. "Commitment issues and all. I also didn't know you could ask." She taps her lips, eyes narrowing. "I wonder if that would work in Southern where they are not allowing women to stand for the clutch." Just call her the feminist brigade. Or not? Who knows?

Let's just call it the community wet spot.

Naneska shares a bit of a wicked grin, her foxy features taking on a more grown-up mischief. "Aye. I don't need a long time. Jist a good time." She pauses, her eyes glinting not unlike the bunnies on Embers feet. "Both is preferable. So long as they git gone." Naneska isn't exactly known for her 'staying' ways either. "He's a slow game that one." Especially now that she's given her word not to persue such interests. At the news of the Southern clutch, and it's NO GIRLS ALLOWED policy her nose wrinkles. "Yeah, if ye had a dick ye could." But the dickless are shit outta luck! "All them boys n' men in t'gether. Bound t' cause trouble." Because Boys will be Boys amirite?

Ember throws back her head and stuffs Naneska's blanket in her mouth to keep from waking the others. "A good time," she choke-whispers, nudging the other Candidate in the shoulder. "A slow game, huh?" Is that a challenge? Mischief glints in Ember's eyes but she returns to Naneska's earlier question that slipped her mind. "I made these. I made all of them." All? All? How many cute slippers does the girl have? "Maybe I should get one and strap it on," she adds, absently, tugging on her bunny ear. "Then I could strut around like a true cock o'the walk." She snickers, "All of them boys crammed up in them barracks means that shit will stink and there will definitely be trouble. I suspect there will be a lot of, ah, battered dudes making it out on the sands." From all the fisticuffs! "Southern leadership is…" She wobbles one hand from side to side, then shrugs. "But that's neither here nor there for me now. Now, I'm here and I gotta think about what's out there on the sands."

Naneska nods, and winks once Ember has regained her composure. Poor I'dre, fabulously in De Nile. But that is a problem for after, and not now. "Ye ever consider makin' 'em for profit? I'm sure the bazaar daughters would go nuts for 'em." THEY NEED TO START THE FLUFFY DEAD FOOT ANIMAL CRAZE. "Sure… ye could. But why'd ye want too?" She likes them well enough for play time, but all the time? Too much hassle! "Aye. In me experience…" Which is as vast and broad as the ocean between Igen and Southern. "…men tend t' be a mite better behaved around women they wish t' bed." Those barracks are going to be a stinky, violent mess, despite the candidate restrictions. "Clearly they're not goin' t' show up and kidnap ye back now are they?" They being Southern Leadership, who in their wisdom have decided NO GIRLS ALLOWED!

"You think people would want them? I made these brightly plumed bird ones once and for a friend, I made her chicken slippers." Ember stretches her legs out and wiggles her feet. "I had found this squeaky thing and I sewed it into the shoe so that every time she walked, it went SQUAAAWWWKKKK. It was amazing." Really, Ember? Chicken slippers?! "Faranth, I would not want a cock full time. It must just be awful for those poor, bedraggled men saddled with body parts on the outside." Versus being all tucked up in nice and neat. Stifling a yawn, she grins. "I'm well and truly here now. They're not going to come get me." Like a BARNACLE. "Seems like there's a good mix of ideas here, that I've seen. I'm actually excited to embark on a new journey. Whatever happens out there, I think my new life will springboard from here on."

Naneska rocks her hand back and forth. "Might be a bit difficult t' sneak out t' an illicit lover with ye feet SQWARPING t' entire time. But sure, why not?" If this particular candidacy venture turns to failure, at least these girls have something to fall back on right? Gotta get that money, WERK! The hand continues to rock. "It seems like it, but there are still those in the bazaar who think a women's place is t' be veiled and pregnant." There is a shudder. "Stick with the traders and weyrfolk cept fer business, and ye'll be fine!" After all Naneska manages, even thrives with the added incentive given by the rampant disapproval of her independent ways.

"Maybe that was the point," Ember winks. "She had a bad habit of trying to sneak out and try to steal my boyfriend at the time." Another one that didn't last. "So I got her good." She's just mercenary enough to be okay gaslighting someone who's trying to screw her over. "I'll show you my patterns and some of my ideas. Then you can pass it around and see if there's any takers." Happy feet club, here they come! "I'm sure there are, but I'm also sure that they aren't going to be the ones influencing my life." She will never be integral to the bazaar, even if Candidacy doesn't work out. With a sigh, she heaves herself up and jumps down from Naneska's bed. "I think I'd better actually get some sleep. I've heard we're going to be doing like chores." She's not done them in a long time, though she's already working the gears of her brain on this one. What if… ahh, but not for now. "Sleep well. I'll get you a pair of slippers, too." Ember wiggles her fingers and makes her way to her own bed, this time intent on sleep. Kind of. Maybe.

"All's fair in…love." And as far as Naneska is concerned that is as an appropriate word as any other. "Aye, we do git some time. N' lessons. I'm tryin' t' talk me way into the kitchens cos I have th' experience." Sure it's a little different cooking for hundreds in proper facilities, but she does have cooking experience. But then Ember is jumping back down just as suddenly as she jumped up, and the honey-haired trader farewells her new… friend? with a happy wiggle of her fingers. "And I'll show ye my feline skin rug." She offers as further inducement, before huffing a sigh and flopping back on her bed (squirming away from the damp spot on the edge.) "Niight~" And of course she says that loud enough to get some groans and some swearing and a few 'SHHHHH's! Such is the life when you have to share your room.

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