Flashback An inconstant Student (Theo Coaststrider)

[Zenobia]

"No I don't really know any Svefra, though I have seen a few and once sold a coral necklace to one. Oh, and I think both the captains of my parent's ships are Svefra. However, in terms of any real acquaintance, you're my first Svefra." smiled Zenobia, before saying with mild reproach, "And don't call it a tomb. Architecturally, it's a gem, and it holds one of the largest collections of books in Mizahar... that said, it will be a relief to not have to be quiet." The walk through the city was pleasant, as always. Although Theo made it clear that he didn't have the highest opinion of the people of Zeltiva, as a whole, Zenobia felt there couldn't be a lovelier city in all of Mizahar, not that she had been to all of Mizahar of course. Light chatter flowed naturally between them at they strolled, but Zenobia felt that Theo maybe had his mind elsewhere. "How strange. I've never heard of the strong Svefra morality or the determined chastity." she smiled, "You know, you'll have to make it a little more obvious when you're joking. It took me a few seconds to decide it one way or the other." They turned around a corner and were now within the dock area. Seagulls swooped, seafarers called to one another as they unbound cargo and just then, she noticed a large, Mizaharan Cargo Ship sail into view. 'La Tristana' recognisable by its intricate stern and bow made of a light, warm mahogany, panelled windows rimmed with gold on the stern end, then the golden ship figurehead of a woman with four arms from the hips up, long hair flowing and sails made of a crisp royal purple fabric. In some lights, the sails shimmered with vibrant reds and bright blues. The ship, she knew was supposed to be back a couple of weeks before, but the weather had been bad and she hadn't quite expected the triumphant return quite so soon. "Oh, Father will be Happy!" Zenobia indicated the boat to Theo, "La Tristana. Named after my Mother. Father boasts that it's the prettiest ship in Zeltiva. He's wrong unfortunately but it is much admired." They turned down towards where the Kelp Bar was, "I'll buy you the first beer to celebrate." She smiled and almost hummed, before answering Theo's question. "Tell you a little more about myself? I'm not too sure what to say! Student, budding playwright, lover of beautiful things... and handsome gentlemen, naturally." At that point, they entered the Kelp Bar. It was a run-down but popular establishment, wary of newcomers if not hostile. Luckily, Zenobia was not a newcomer. She must have come here for the first time aged fifteen with her first romance, a merchant sailor from Nyka, in Zeltiva to sell fine wine and since them, would often visit every now and again.

[Theo Coaststrider]

As they passed the stately looking vessel Theo let out a low whistle. The cargo ship cut a handsome figure in the harbour and he took a joy in watching the men milling about the colourful vessel. He felt no small twinge of jealousy at the gorgeous ship, his own people rarely tipped their homes with extravagant golden statues and their sails were notably more monochromatic. It was clear that this particular vessel was meant to make a statement.

"Where I'm from, our ships are rarely gilded...If there is a more ornamented vessel on any of the seas I would be quite surprised. He must love your mother very much to honour her this way." So he was right to guess that Zenobia was a woman who wasn't unfamiliar with the finer things in life. That presented a whole series of questions about why she was wandering into a bar on the docks with a penniless Svefra.

"I'll be sure to make my teasing more obvious in the future. Maybe I've been...uncharitable..to Zeltiva. At least they know how to build a proper ship, and they do have a certain respect for the finer things in life." He was, naturally, referring to distilled plant life and rowdy docks. As they made their way into the noisy bar Theo's face morphed into a lopsided grin. He was much more comfortable here amongst the drunken hustle and bustle.

"Well, if you're a fan of beautiful things then I apologize." He punctuated his statement with a wink. There was no uncertain disparity in their dress, Theo's cotton pants and torn cotton shirt had a distinct lack of gravitas. He kept himself dressed simply, forsaking the beads, shells, coloured strings and knick-knacks that most Svefra coveted. His lone affectations were his tattoos. Rhis didn't seem to bother his well dressed companion.

He accepted his drink graciously and without a moment's hesitation took a hearty draw. "Thank you very much Zenobia, I'll be sure to repay the favour with a second round! So, what made you think of coming to the docks?"

[Zenobia]

Zenobia smiled, "He does love her very much... though it is a ridiculous expenditure of money, I suppose that is what one expects of a jewellery merchants ship - gilding everywhere." she laughed, "Though it does make it a target since technically, this is 'La Tristana' mark two. The first one was slightly smaller and, somehow, we lost it to Pirates. That was a very black day in terms of finances." After the first sip of Kelp Beer, Zenobia almost pulled a face then recalled someone telling her once that taking light sips of Kelp Beer simply wasn't the thing to do, rather one should take huge gulps of it and down it as soon as possible. She did not feel the need to question the reliability of her source, so did just that, taking a swig. "A second round then, yes, but not a third. I don't think I would stomach it, bearing in mind that Kelp Beer is actually a lot stronger than the usual type." She paused at his questioning of the docks, "Ah, now I look out of place... I am certain that that is what you are thinking. You can't understand why I wander around these docks as if I might be a street ragamuffin. I do come here every now and again, you know, and I enjoy it, even when I am the target of a few lewd comments thrown at me by men in a half drunken stupor. I suppose, I just like the atmosphere. There's not a shadow of pretence about it and everyone seems so raw and real. As for the docks as a whole, well, I've accompanied my father regularly since I could remember, though at that point we weren't as successful as we are now and Father almost always helped doing the unloading - which angered Mother no end, because she said it damaged his hands and that the hands of a craftsman shouldn't do manual labour." She took another sip, aware that she was probably talking too much, especially to a practical stranger, but unwilling to leave her speech unfinished. Unfortunately, she had been more than a little cherished at home, and her parents had done little to dissuade her from running on in a wild manner in conversation. "And today, when you said you wanted to go somewhere to have a drink in a Tavern where you might try Kelp Beer, and you almost looked uncomfortable in the Library, I thought about the Kelp Bar. Kelp Beer is the speciality here, I suppose. Don't take it as an insult for it is not meant to be, more a comment on your Svefra roots, but I don't imagine that as you currently are, you'd look more at ease anywhere else in this city. "

[Theo Coaststrider]

The drink was bitter, unlike regular ale. He could also see why Zenobia was pre-emptively dissuading a third round. It was quite bizarre for the young man to come across an alcohol he didn't savour, but he assumed the kelp beer was merely an acquired taste. Taking that philosophy to heart he took another greedy pass at the mug. He was going to find a way to love love something about Zeltiva, and if he had to start with their salty beer then so be it. "I'm sorry to hear about the piracy. If it makes you feel any better I don't think it was the Svefra who did it. If any of the other pods had acquired such a magnificent looking vessel one of my fathers would have snapped it out from under them faster than you can say 'Petch! Is that a Coaststrider?"

In the back of his mind Theo knew it was rude to laugh at your own jokes, but he hadn't quite internalized the lesson. His rolling laugh filled their little corner of the tavern. "Also, you don't look out of place at all. To be honest, you're the kind of person that exists in a state of general placelessness."

He grinned at his own 5 dollar word as he took another deep swig from his mug. He didn't think he had made an inaccurate point. Zenobia had managed to dress herself in a way that seemed at home in the library, in a tavern and at any point along the street in between. He suspected it was some sort of feminine machination that fell outside his limited grasp and decided to leave it at that.

His joking aside, he listened very attentively to Zenobia's story. It was interesting to hear her spin a yarn about her family life precisely because it was so different from his own. "He must have been very skilled to recover from the loss of his first ship. A vessel of that size is no small investment, even without all of the additional ornamentation."

It felt strange to speak this way, muffling his accent and adopting a new rhetoric to help him better fit in amongst the Zeltivans. "So, if your father is a craftsman and a trader then what is your mother? Is she the leader of the community? It wouldn't strike as any surprise at all if you were the daughter of the local Lia."

He was enjoying her chattiness, and the general atmosphere of the bar. It was a rare occasion when Theo didn't feel an obligation to carry the conversation and he was enjoying the role of the listener for a change. As he finished off his own mug he pressed a few silver mizas onto the bar and ordered another round. He figured that, given how busy the bar was, it would take him awhile to bring out the drinks. The crowded room seemed cheery enough. They seemed very warm to Zenobia, and though he had gotten his fair share of frosty glares when they first entered the room he was more or less being ignored now, which was fine by him.

"So, are you working on a play at the moment, or are you a writer between projects? Is that what you're studying at the University to become? Or do you have other plans for your future?" He didn't mean to pepper his companion with questions, but she seemed to enjoy sharing stories and Theo was just happy to see her smiling for the moment.

[Zenobia]

Zenobia laughed at his joke and she had to turn away as her smile grew wider when he described her as a person existing in a state of general placeless-ness. It was by no means the usual compliment, in fact she was not sure it was even fully intended as flattery, but she was wholly gratified by it. Although she could never grow bored of being told how lovely and charming she was, for she had to admit she was a fool for adulation, a genuine compliment was a good deal more pleasant. She started twirling a dark curl around her little finger, with an almost pensive air, "Or maybe, I am so out of place in every single location within Zeltiva, that I almost manage to carve myself a place. I am like the vibrant scarlet cloak of a woman in a painting otherwise drowning in blues, greens, greys and whites. A spot of unrealism in an otherwise pastoral landscape. I don't completely fit but the picture would not be complete without it." She laughed, "I am forever showing proof of my vanity. I can pay as good a compliment to myself as any man could to me. I've been doing it for a couple of years now and unfortunately, it is not a habit I have managed to grow out of." Zenobia took another sip of her Kelp Beer. She still didn't like it, but had enormous control over her tastes and refused to give in to them. She continued drinking it in little, elegant sips, paying no attention to the taste or commenting on the vileness of it; in this way, she might almost look like she enjoyed it. She turned her mind to his query on her writing, "I'll tell you, but then we must talk about you. Really, I should not be allowed to carry on in this egotistical manner if I wish to avoid becoming an insufferable bore. Well, I have just submitted a play to the Lightshow Theatre, and it will be my first to be properly staged, but they have advised me to try something more melodramatic for my next one since that would sell better. So I am currently writing a tragi-comedy. I can show you the synopsis in a minute. And as for what I am studying, philosophy and performing arts. Though I enjoy acting, I take the performing arts more as a theoretical study." At this, she whipped out a little book from her bag, some blank pages and others scribbled on. She found the right page and placed it with a smiled in front of Theo. "Sorry that it is so longwinded." Moonlighting Giulia - A Play in Three Acts Giulia Sparrow is young, beautiful, wanton and frivolous. Only just twenty-four and finding herself with three young sons and stuck in a marriage with an austere, frugal husband twenty years her senior, Nelson, she takes Calix, a handsome officer, for a lover. In order to deflect her husband's suspicion away from Calix, a friend in a similar situation suggests she hire a respectable young gentleman servant in order to take the butt of all the jealousies. Unfortunately Asho, the man Giulia hires, is completely infatuated with her and 'determined to die in her name'. His role to innocently take all Nelson's spying and jealousy comes to a head when Asho admits his love for Giulia, in earshot of her husband's valet. Nelson, on hearing of this, is initially not too worried - he himself in love with his wife and certain that she doesn't encourage or respond to Asho's feelings which are far from proactive. He lets things go, believing that such a situation is quite normal and that Giulia remains faithful. A couple of months pass in this manner. Nelson, oblivious to the situation, Asho pining over Giulia and she regularly meeting up with Calix, until Nelson's valet - still suspicious - intercepts a note from Giulia to Calix, inviting him to her darkened chambers that very night. Nelson, full of anger at this and believing the note to be addressed to Asho, decides to lie in wait in Giulia's room behind a hole in the wall behind a tapestry to see what happens. "I haven't finished writing down what happens, but I have it all worked out. You may think it's over the top, but these themes of disguise and deceit are incredibly popular at the moment." Zenobia put a hand to her neck to try and untangle a strand of hair which had caught on the back of her collar necklace. Unfortunately, she was having trouble doing so and gave up. "Now I have talked more than enough. Tell me about yourself."

[Theo Coaststrider]

Theo reciprocated her laugh with his own deep chuckle. That she appreciated a compliment--and didn't want for confidence--could have gone unstated. He considered her comment about unrealism for a moment and decided that surrealism would be similarly suitable. He had picked up the term in his readings and had taken a particular shining to it. He could see her as a bit of scarlet that fit as a product of its randomness, rather than in spite of it. "And, suddenly, I see the merit in taking in paintings. I'm not completely certain that you're vain, in my pod a bit of boasting is an important part of any good story."

Without another moment's hesitation he reached over to collect the writing, skimming it quickly and then giving the work a second-- and more involved-- go over. It didn't seem so terribly melodramatic, in fact it seemed like exactly the sort of thing the Zeltivans would flock to. He doubted it would sell well amongst the Svefra. Affectations like subtlety, deceit and coherent plot were generally discarded in favour of acrobatics, physical humour and sexuality in the rare travelling show that drifted out from The Anchorage. He wouldn't hold that against her though, she could hardly be expected to please everyone. "It looks good to me. Your men folk seem to be a very jealous sort...either that or Giulia is quite the woman."

He notices the woman struggling and reaches to help. He struggles fo a moment before giving up, not wanting to hurt her by just tugging the errant hair. "About myself, what is there to say? I'm a Svefra, obviously. My pod is made up mostly of traders and labourers, so I've spent my life maintaining ships, hauling cargo, and bickering over prices with skin-flint port rats. My biological mother is the Lia--sorry, the leader--of the pod, and she sent me to Zeltiva so that I might, and these are her words, 'remedy my idiocy.' If you ask me she wasn't being particularly charitable in saying that, but it nice to learn more than the basics of ship maintenance and how to scrape a barnacle."

He chuckled gently as he finished his little summary. It didn't make for much of a tale, to be honest. His people were a folk that thrived on anecdotes and tall tales, they tended to wilt when asked for histories. In truth, he was thankful for the education he was receiving, and had always valued the attention his mother gave to expanding his mind and showing him that there was more to life than the cut of a sail and how to track pirates. "In truth, my folk don't put much thought into our work. The sea is kind so we do not want for food, and Laviku's blessings ensure we do not want for water. Before I came to Zeltiva I spent most of my time fishing, sailing and fighting with my brothers and sisters."

[Zenobia]

Zenobia listened to his account of the routine of his life with no little interest. It was a different life entirely to the one she had grown accustomed to and, though she had read in passing a little about how the Svefra went about and their hierarchy, it was very different hearing it from a Svefra himself. More like a real, flesh and blood, way of life rather than simply what some intellectual or other writes about it. "It sounds very Arcadian... and purposeful. I think I've spent half my life reading things and the rest of it, thinking about going to see them or do them. I wasn't trained for anything, so I had to find something for myself. You, on the other hand, seem to have been raised for the Sea, for dealing with storms and tempests, and I think that's rather admirable. Do you have many siblings?" Family structures sounded like they might be complicated. Theo had referred to his 'biological' mother, which she didn't think was wholly usual when one was simply referring to one's mother, so she supposed he had more than one. Either that, or he wasn't raised by her and did not feel so close to her. She also refrained a moment longer from asking what they did for entertainment, for she supposed that living and sleeping and everything on a ship took away rather a lot of time for anything else. The hair caught in her necklace was still bothering her. She had another go then turned to Theo. "Do you mind just tugging at it. Don't worry about potentially hurting me a little. It's rather irritating."

[Theo Coaststrider]

"Amongst my people there is certainly no shortage of doing." Theo mumbled his response almost thoughtlessly as he leaned over to liberate the captured strand of hair. As he shifted across the table and drew close to the woman he hesitated for a moment. The young Svefra wasn't sure that he had ever smelled perfume before--it was nice. He couldn't place the scent in any single natural thing he had ever encountered, though it may had been his shock that made placing the smell difficult. The smell seemed to fall somewhere between freshly cut flowers and, bizarrely, the way that berries tasted. It was an altogether discombobulating, but not at all unpleasant experience. With a quick motion he had slipped his left hand gently behind the head of the woman, just behind the curtain of her curly black hair. After fumbling with the stubborn strands a moment, Theo had an idea.

"Well, would you look at that!" His voice suddenly perked up, and with a jerking motion he used his right hand to point aggressively to the far corner of the bar. Slipping his left hand out from behind her head in a sharp, fluid motion he settles himself back into his chair and takes a long draw from his second mug of the kelp beer. A few strands of long black hair fall carelessly onto the floor beside him as Theo nurses his drink, completely disinterested in the nothingness he had drawn Zenobia's attention to just a half-moment earlier. He had never been as capable as his brothers and sisters at sleight of hand, but freeing a few trapped strands of hair from a Zeltivan playwright over a mug of Kelp Beer was a simple "mark."

"I'm sorry for the clumsy distraction, I was always a poor pick pocket. Just giving a yank felt...undignified...so I thought I'd have a bit of fun with you! I hope it didn't hurt you." A slight flush could be picked up under the copper tones of his cheeks, whether it was from the Kelp beer or an unintentional reaction to his juvenile little trick was up for debate. His little piece of deception completed Theo leaned back to do a quick bit of mental math.

"How many siblings...? I think, at the last count I had one hundred and fourty-three brothers and ... one hundred and fifty, or was it one hundred and fifty two? ... and one hundred and fifty-something sisters. But that was before we left for Zeltiva, there should be another one delivered a week ago if I'm not mis-remembering." Theo occupied himself with the math for a few long moments before he realized that his explanation was, in all likelihood, completely alien to Zenobia. With a musical chuckle he offered a quick explanation. "That isn't really so many when you consider how many mothers and fathers I have. My pod is very close, and I was raised by all of the adults in the pod--the act of raising me makes them my parents. By my "biological" mother I ha.. I don't have any siblings."

It sometimes took Theo a moment to remember that his family took a bit of explaining, but he offered the clarification simply, as if it had been practised many times before. His explanation given, Theo tried to think of some excuse to lean back across the table to get another nose full of the perfume, it seemed to be having as much of an impact on the young man as the kelp. As he tilted back the last of his second mug he pulled out another two silver mizas and leaned across the little wooden table to set them at the bar, lingering for a moment near the woman and then giving her an awkward chuckle.

[Zenobia]

Zenobia had barely winced as he had tugged the hair out and was happy of his distraction, though disappointed that she now had nothing remarkable to look at. She had looked for a minute or two, trying to find something that might have sparked her interest, before frowning and turning back to Theo at the news that he had not had much success as a pickpocket. “A Pickpocket? Goodness. Do I have any reason to be worried about losing my paraphernalia? Should I perhaps keep my bag close to my chest lest you run off with it? You would not have much luck making any money from it. The bag itself, I warrant, is mere dyed canvas, and there is not much of value in it. I would suggest you wait until one day when I go out with my carpet bag. It's made of an Ornamented Eypharian Rug. You'd find it much more worth your while.” Zenobia was teasing, but saying this with mock seriousness, “But then you did say that you were never a very good pickpocket.” she paused, “No. Don't worry. It hardly hurt at all and, if it did, only momentarily so there's no issue. Pain is a natural part of life.” She listened to his detailing of his family, her surprise not registering on her face, which was masked with a warm smile. She had heard that Svefra families were large, but it had never been explained to her before, and one hundred and fifty was a number quite beyond that which she had imagined. The idea that one could have more than one set of parents also seemed very foreign to her. She was an only child, brought up by a loving couple. Three of them in one house, and any extended family was far away in Eyktol. “Sounds like a recipe for an incestuous relationship, though I don't suppose it counts at all, since many of your siblings, I suppose, are more friends you travel with. Do you know each and every one of them?” At this point, she noted that he was fidgeting slightly awkwardly. She wondered why but thought nothing of it, merely raising her eyebrows with amusement at his nervous chuckle.

[Theo Coaststrider]

"No reason to worry, I doubt I could get away with it. My hands are much to large to slide into someone's pocket and I'm a bit tall to meld into the background so I've decided to find my riches elsewhere." He leaned back into his chair and gave the bartender a warm look, in an attempt to get his attention. She had taken in the news about his family without any visible confusion, perhaps Ephyrian's had large families as well...or maybe Benshira's? He wasn't really sure. He hadn't heard anything to that effect, but that didn't necessarily mean much, his people tended to avoid the desert folk.

"No, incest isn't much of an issue. My pod is fairly well travelled and not a month goes past without another large pod meeting up for a week of celebrations. I suppose you could say that it's...what's the word, taboo?... to sleep around within the pod. The Lia doesn't interfere with much, but that would likely catch her attention." Theo let out a long laugh, he hadn't really considered that people would take it that way, but it wasn't such a leap. To be honest, the taboo wasn't such a bad idea. The Svefra were a free spirited folk, as far as that was concerned, and a week or two off between parties didn't do any harm.

"I do know them all, though I wouldn't bore you with the list. Sometimes it can take as long as a year to meet a new brother and sister, if they were born on a particularly long voyage, but we meet them soon enough." As he finished his statement, his long awaited final cup of kelp beer arrived at the table and he gave it an appropriate, and substantial, welcoming swig. The bitter saltiness bothered him much less now that he had built a bit of a base, and it was actually almost pleasant once you got over the after-taste.

"Now, you're going to have to tell me what kind of trouble the students at the University usually get up to on a night like tonight. They can't all be as boring as our fellows in the library, and Zeltiva can't be all lecture halls and piers." A glint of mischief was clearly evident in the young Svefra's eyes.