Fit for Pearls

Minnie takes Fallon on as a research assistant

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Center of scholarly knowledge and shipwrighting, Zeltiva is a port city unlike any other in Mizahar. [Lore]

Fit for Pearls

Postby Philomena on August 2nd, 2014, 2:11 am

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Her mind sloshed sluggishly, in confusion, a moment, but Lanie's voice returns harder now. Pushing

Focus, Minnie. She had a question, did you hear it?

She didn't, or...she hadn't forgotten, so much as muddied the water. The student offered the answer, without being prompted. "What do you need of me?"

Minnie set her hand, absently up to the neckline of her dress again, fingering the knot in the stitching there, and closing her eyes, trying to regain focus, her mind upset, feeling the rawness of the push from the Lanie-voice

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I am trying, I am trying.

Answer her.

She felt judged, and looked back up, to see the other girl cooling, to see her punch her brow and speak formally, distantly. She thought over the poem she'd recited. Had it been too personal? She grew uncomfortable, and fidgeted harder with the knot.

Answer her.

Im all mixed up, I'm all mixed up.

A different voice entertwined with the Lanie voice, a small, rough, loathing voice, the voice that came when she had been foolish.

Stupid gutterslut. Its a simple petching question.[/]

Lanie came back, then, cooing more kindly, in contrast the the harsh bite.

[i]Calm, precise, love. Speak to her. Trust her.


"I don't know what I want.."

The words were clearly half-conscious - likely she hadn't even known she spit them out, but her mind grappled with them.

Calm, precise. Just the immediate need, not the long term question. Just simple. Just what-do-we-ask-today.

She blinked several times, and open her mouth to try to form the sentence.

"A... a job... I want... or... no, I have... a job, I had a job you... need... need a job, maybe. I don't want to presume."

Calmness, was an effort, and the asking for it, mad it harder, int a way, for she could hear how she was failing, failing herself, failing Fallon, failing the Lanie in her head,and it made her more tense.

Why am I so confused? Why and I... I feel so off, so strange, why am I so mixed up?
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Fit for Pearls

Postby Fallon on August 3rd, 2014, 11:37 am

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There was a drain away once more, her eyes turning and moving to the world around her. Eyes blinked, her chin lifting as she looked around the establishment once more. There was more people now, filtering in with the progress of time and with that bringing in more coin. Her brow creased as she let the throb hang and hover there for a moment, before she brought herself forward. Hunching over, elbows upon the table, her gaze looking over the Professor almost analytically as she picked through what was before her.

She was a nervous creature, stuttering and stammering - much worse that Fallon in some regards - but she did not shy away, or seem to recoil when one came into her personal zone. Attentive yet distant, bothered mentally with a tight restraint. Fallon pressed her chin into the palm of her hand, watching the fingers become animated and snagging upon things - almost as if to grasp upon the collar that held her back. Or perhaps it was something more. Her head tilted the other way, shadows playing across her face as she watched and considered. Words stumbled, if they could even be called that, forming slowly into something more coherent. But when it finally did string together, did Fallon's lips peel back once more into that of a smile - or more correctly a grin.

"A job?" her brow raised, "Well, you're right on time for that one. I am indeed in need for employment. Let's just say my finances are presently... lacking to allow stay within my lodgings due to a series of unfortunate mishaps." She gave a nonchalant shrug, "It is a very good piece of intuition you have there Professor, I must congratulate you on it. But enough of that, this job, task. What services is it you require of me?" Her head cocked to one side, a gentle patter of digits against her cheek as she focused, "Need me to shift some weights for you? I am stronger than I look, but not that strong." Her head cocked to the other side then, silently wishing that the woman would just tell her what exactly was required of her to stop this awkward tiptoeing around the subject, "Or something else?"
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Fallon is a Master of Intimidation, "At this level, a Master intimidator often unconsciously intimidates their target unless the intimidator monitors their stance, tone, and actions to prevent this. Master intimidators will nearly always have a reputation that precedes them unless they have taken special care to prevent it."
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Fit for Pearls

Postby Philomena on February 6th, 2015, 3:32 am

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Minnie closed her eyes a moment. The confusing mishmash inside her skull still gurgled unpredictably, the peculiar tone of gentle command from Lanie leaving her unsettled. She opened her mouth to speak and hummed a moment.

We came to ask her, yes?

You stupid gutterslut, you can't ask someone for what you need.

Just help, just a research assistant, that's all! That's all!

Is that all, really? Sure it is, sure.

"It is... it is all!" her voice was quiet, and her humid little rabbit eyes behind their spectacles swung up to meet the other girl's her own filled with trepidation. Her smallness was accentuated by the quiet nervousness, not the fear of an adult who expects repercussions, but the fear of a child, the fear of simply the great breadth of the world of people bigger than one's self. She spoke very slowly, keeping her eyes very timidly locked on the student's.

"I am working... on... on..." she breathed again, and the last inflections of the gutter left her tone, her voice a throaty wheedle, now, her lecturer's voice, but quiet, like a poorly tuned oboe, timidly played.

"I am working on a book, on an update, on... on... notes, and... and... I am looking for an assistant, one with a fair hand and... and... who knows some geography. You write a strong quill, and you are... not... you are not from here, and maybe you will not be... be looking for playing tricks and such..."

Her voice wandered at this last, as did, now, her eyes, which wandered down to the woman's collarbone. She reached for her kelp-tea, only to realize it was not there, and left a tiny, ink-stained hand on the table.
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Fit for Pearls

Postby Fallon on February 6th, 2015, 9:54 am

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There was a long, level of silence as Fallon watched. Eyes narrowed, watching that moment of hesitation as the elder woman tried to gather some form of bearings and formulate an answer. It was almost as if she held the question there but held no immediate means in which to communicate it, or as if there was a brief blip in the communication between them both. Still, the fingers continued their idle pattering against her cheek for the meanwhile and awaited the long, strained words that seemed to almost be ripped forth unwillingly. The orbs gave a flicker as the crux was met and the intention for the meeting was laid clear.

"I am interested," Fallon gave a smile, fingers peeling away as she inspected her finger tips and peered onwards at the professor over them, "And why would I want to play tricks when there is employment at hand? It is unclean to allow play and work to miss, of course maybe the small snippet of fun would be allowed but nothing as detrimental as tampering and damaging." Her lips pulled round into a smile, her brow raising as she gave the flicker back down to the table and the ink stain that was left there, "I will assist where you need assisting, Professor. Though, I may require some guidance on occasion on what particular edits you require in some locations - It is your project after all."

She leaned back then, allowing her form to relax in the chair and her gaze soften - looking forward but unfocused as she attempted to try and not put so much pressure on the woman. Fear, uncertainty, why was there such worry? Was she of a cruel persona, did she put on such an aura? Or perhaps it was because of the unknown elements, the mask and the not knowing. Tilting her head to one side she spoke slowly and carefully, once more trying to feel her way round and gain a glimmer of insight, "So this book, what is it about? Do I need to do any forward reading for it?

Her skin gave an uncomfortable prickle, her hand raising up to rub protectively over her bones, fingers rubbing and massaging as she tried to shake the feeling off. With a glance around her surroundings, the hum of noise and voices striking her once more, did she speak up, "Would you prefer discussing this elsewhere Professor Lefting? Perhaps somewhere more relaxing and quieter for you?" She made the offer, forcing her hands forward and lacing them, "I mean, if you want to. You could show me what you've managed thus far, and what the next point of study is?"
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Fallon is a Master of Intimidation, "At this level, a Master intimidator often unconsciously intimidates their target unless the intimidator monitors their stance, tone, and actions to prevent this. Master intimidators will nearly always have a reputation that precedes them unless they have taken special care to prevent it."
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Fit for Pearls

Postby Philomena on February 6th, 2015, 5:34 pm

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Minnie frowned a little - it seemed, somehow, too easy. The girl had not even asked her for details. Salary? Times? Expectations? Why would she be so quick to agree?

Because she knows you'll never pay her. She'll have nicked some bit of gossip about you and made a fool of you before you get to your first payday. Like the last one, Minnie.

The bitterness of this drew her in, but externally, this meant the softness of her face fell away a moment, and what was left was a cold, exhausted hardness, for just a flicker of time -- before she rejected the thought. Not because it was necessarily false, but simply... because it did not seem becoming to think it. There was no point to it. Her hand, the one that was not on the table, went to the hem at the décolletage of her rather ridiculous looking dress, and fingered thoughtfully at a little snarl there, and she brought a smile up, an almost humble smile. imploring and vulnerable, not at all the face of someone hiring an employee to be under her.

"I'm... I'm... the Circumnavigation of Kenabelle Wright, I am writing... I have written annotations and a gloss, but... its been... some time, and they need updating to reflect the current research. I... I thought... I... there is a lot of revision on the notes on diction, and some cross references to the work of Doctor Mirkweed on the Akhvatari, and..."

She blushed. It was actually, to the hypothetical eye not yet exasperated by the woman, an oddly pleasant look, the blush rising into her cheeks with the slow capillarity of a sunrise viewed through closed eyelids. It made her eyes more human, pulling her lids down in a way that was genuine pleasure and a clumsy embarrassment all at once.

"I'm sorry... I'm... moving too quickly, yes... yes, I could... I could take you home? You can come and see where it is at, I can show you how far it is along, I could... if... you are interested." she stumbled to rush in an additional caveat, "But you need not, it can... can wait... if you want it to, until tomorrow, you must be ready for your own evening."
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Fit for Pearls

Postby Fallon on February 6th, 2015, 7:11 pm

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In honesty Fallon was trying her hardest to not think about coin, if anything she had learned from the occasion stint of employment it. Eagerly asking about coin and finances was never a good tactic with potential employers - it showed a sense of narrow thought and a potentially unhealthy focus that would be better off avoided. Besides, if what the professor was suggesting was true, then the reward of simply expanding upon her knowledge would be enough to state her. For now at least.

She gave a blink as the expression seemed to fall away, her gaze lifting only briefly to watch the subtle movements, nervous and considering as if she was trying to work out Fallon's trail of thought. It was confusing, her mind still trying to piece together if there was an intention. Humble, she got that, timid and mouse like, small, and occasionally crawling out to gather sustenance or assistance before darting back to the hole.

"Circumnavigation?" she nodded thoroughly, "Yes, you spoke of the book before. I have not read much on it still however. I suppose I should at some point or another, I mean... assignments and all," She looked a bit embarrassed then, and turned her gaze down to her fingers. It was then she twiddled them for a while a moment of nervousness as she looked down and released a faint mumble. She gave a coughed admittance, "I don't know what an Akhvatari is. I mean, there was the theatre, but that didn't really... show me what it looked like?"

She did not look quite look at the elder woman for a moment, her lips pursing into a line as the woman became more human and attentive. It was her passion, the words less hesitant, almost certain in their belief. No, it was her territory of knowledge, her world and she revealed in its existence. And in response Fallon saw the beauty in it - or at least some strange version of it. She was not sure, but there was indeed that element of perhaps pride. She gave a laugh, if only to herself and her own admittance and brought herself up to standing, "I have no plans, I'd only be here gambling away money I don't have if I stay." Polite, but far from forceful, "My evenings are otherwise isolated and without contact, I am, essentially, yours for your project working until you decide to... send me away?" She sighed then, face falling down into neutrality, "In your time Professor."
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Fallon is a Master of Intimidation, "At this level, a Master intimidator often unconsciously intimidates their target unless the intimidator monitors their stance, tone, and actions to prevent this. Master intimidators will nearly always have a reputation that precedes them unless they have taken special care to prevent it."
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Fit for Pearls

Postby Philomena on February 9th, 2015, 12:29 pm

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Minnie ran her front teeth over her bottom lip, thoughtfully, trying to consider the proper way to say, 'yes, student I do not know well, let's go to my apartment.' Realizing there was no proper way to say such a thing, she fudged it instead, and simply slid herself from the chair to her feet and waited for the other woman to rise as well, hoping she would not need to be explicit. She spoke about other things to cover the awkwardness of the moment.

"Akvatari, I have, you can see them here in... in Zeltiva, occasionally, the Guild has a s-s-steady trade route with Abura, their home city on Akvatar, to the South. When I was very young, I used to... to..."

She blushed, very deeply, and did not finish the sentence, instead, muttering limply, "Where are... are you staying? So that I can b'sure y'can get a-bed early on, I dinnae want to keep you too late."
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Fit for Pearls

Postby Fallon on February 10th, 2015, 2:30 pm

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Silence, there was that hum of an awkward cord between the pair as one seemed to try and feel out the other and plan the next move. Philomena was the tutor in this scenario, the woman who had come and approached her for assistance - the employer over the employee. That meant she was to lead, by her logic at least. Perhaps she had become too forceful? Had she overstepped a boundary somewhere? Fallon's brow creased, would there be consequences for such behaviour? Her fingers curled up and balled into a fist, that brief tremble. This was not Sahova, she reminded herself as her arm tensed and then promptly relaxed.

"I've never been South before, and they do? From far away?" her eyes lit up briefly for a moment, the element of wonder and curiosity filling her gaze. Her eyes blinked, the almost childlike energy of youth consuming, "Could we... go... maybe to see...?" Fallon caught herself, snapping back the glow and looking down firmly at the table. Biting her lip she drew back that feeling and let herself deflate that enthusiasm. Curiosity was what got her hurt in the first place. She looked upon the professor from beneath her brow, "Never mind."

"I take residence at the dormitory officially, though sometimes I need to get away from sharing a room. It's not... private enough,"
there was a clear element of discomfort upon her face, a wavering distrust of the one she shared with, "Need to have time to think, alone time. Study without the feeling of someone peering over your shoulder."

Pinching her brow, she gave a step away from the table slowly making her way over to the exit - steps turning into shuffles she gave a pause, an almost sheepish glance back to the mouse woman as she contemplated her next words and pressed the door open, "If you're uncomfortable with me, then well... don't put yourself out. I do understand if you don't want me... well, doing...?" She shook her head as if to discard the thought and carried on through, "Why circumnavigation? I mean... there's lots of books out there, right? So, what drew you to it?" Another blink, it was that poor attempt at making some kind of conversation "I mean, if you don't mind answering. Could just tell me to be quiet and just be a silent student. Yeah... I think I'll do that instead. All quiet until spoken to," And with that, Fallon firmly pursed her lips shut and formed them into a line.
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Fallon is a Master of Intimidation, "At this level, a Master intimidator often unconsciously intimidates their target unless the intimidator monitors their stance, tone, and actions to prevent this. Master intimidators will nearly always have a reputation that precedes them unless they have taken special care to prevent it."
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Fit for Pearls

Postby Philomena on February 12th, 2015, 2:28 pm

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The girl's response startled Minnie. Go? To Abura? Her eyelids fluttered and her chin dipped a few times, her lips trying to form a word, and failing.

Abura, city high and distant,
City borne on pillared stone,
Abura, where the sea sings sweet --


The poem flooded through her head, but she blinked a few times, and tried to reassemble the girl's words. Something she had said, about her home. Had Minnie missed the need for a response. Her mind gnawed. What had the girl said? She looked... uncomfortable. Embarrassed? No... cowed? The girl spoke again, and Minnie stuttered words out, clumsily, finally finding a response and being so quick to try to form it into real words that they cam in a tumble, half swallowed by the night as she threaded through the room and opened the door.

"No, no, no uncomfortable, not, I'm fine, I... you are... I would love you in my room, I... wait... I mean, that I would be..." she blinked... focus... "It's... she is the only one, you know, Kenabelle... She is the only one, and I... I... there is so much world... I..."

She frowned, and pushed her glasses up and squeezed at the knot in her neckline again.

"I mean... I mean... there is... she left, and they expected her to sink, to never come home. You know? Bt she did, she ... I am... I am not brave. I am a little coward, really, nae s'much of the grand soul, I amn't, and... don't you ever..." she looks up to the girl, seeing, again, the girl's blank retreat of a face. Tentatively, with a clumsy, but intent meaning, she stopped, and reached her ink-stained fingers to touch the back of the girl's hand.

"Have y'na ever looked out and wanted to wrap the whole world into you? She makes me feel small and huge all at once, Kena Wright, does, like I'm a tiny life in a world full of lives I'll ne'er know, an' at the same time, like... like..."

She struggled with the words, and could not find the next ones.
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Fit for Pearls

Postby Fallon on February 18th, 2015, 11:06 am

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There was that pause again. Fallon could not decide if it was a trait belonging to the woman, or something deliberately placed as she thought up an answer to her suggestions. Several times now it had appeared, and several times she seemed to look almost surprised, confused - as if trying to translate a foreign language. There was patience, there always had to be patience when dealing with such an individual - but she was beginning to wonder how much longer such a state would continue to slip up in conversation, or how much longer Fallon's patience would hold against it.

Her skin blushed deeper at the momentary suggestion, the context that she had over looked and something that made her internally squirm. Her skin deepened in shade, gaze lowering and looking away towards the ground. The air felt awkward, smothering as the Professor attempted to smooth over her comments. Fallon only dumbly nodded back, her gaze flickering back up to answer in a mumble, "Only one. Always the only one. I think I understand."

The girl's eyes darted away once more, silent as she gave those steps ever onwards following the elder in the general direction they needed to travel in. The rest of the time she stepped, shoulders hunched in and a general look of discomfort as she looked at everything else. How many eyes were upon her now? How many people were watching and silently judging them? There was a prickling, a deep inhale as she gathered her thoughts and looked back, "Bravery is perceptive. People think heroes and going off on adventures, when really it's the everyday bits that matter just as much, if not more," she swallowed then, "Everyone seems to forget the little people..."

Fallon gave a noticeable flinch away when Philomena touched her, that brief flash of fear filling her gaze as she withdrew her hand. It had caught her off guard, the pulse quickly rising as she glanced upon her hand, repeating the words within her head that were spoken. A reminder to breath, there was nothing wrong here she told herself despite the urge to slide off and away as quickly as possible, "Wrap the whole world within... I..." She shook her head, "No. I want to hold hands with the world, experience it, walk through it, and see it for what it truly is... I... To hold it close blocks the view. Smothers it, suffocates it... The world is something that cannot be kept... can it?" Fallon frowned then, scratching at her cheek, "I may have missed your point. Probably."
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Fallon is a Master of Intimidation, "At this level, a Master intimidator often unconsciously intimidates their target unless the intimidator monitors their stance, tone, and actions to prevent this. Master intimidators will nearly always have a reputation that precedes them unless they have taken special care to prevent it."
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