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Post by Steinerman on Oct 13, 2012 23:51:12 GMT -5
The warm sea-breeze wafted in past the metallic pier and the curious crowd gathered upon it. Marnie Majeec, however, shivered with a cold chill that had absolutely nothing to do with the weather. Dressed in her brown trousers and simple shirt and vest, fedora perched lopsidedly upon her head, she struck quite a figure. If it weren't for the cold look in her grey eyes.
If they'd had the luxury, they would have buried their dead in an actual plot of land. But being on a floating city, they didn't have that option. The inhabitants almost universally buried their dead at sea. Thus, the Majeec Carnivale had to do the same.
Words were few, the ashes were tossed to the waves, a few muttered phrases about god or gods mentioned, and that was that. And then everyone filed away, Leaving Marnie, the Madam, and Old Boot standing alone on the dock.
"Why'd he have to die the same day as Missy?" Marnie muttered darkly. "Bad enough da had to drink himself to death, but to die the same day as that stupid beastie?"
Madam, a thoroughly entrancing Elven woman with raven-black hair, shrugged languidly, taking a drag from her lengthy cigarette. "Bad things come in threes, we're due one more by nightfall." She stated plainly.
Next to her, his grey hair tied in a pony tail that reached almost down to his belt, Old Boot shrugged once. "Eh, you're just superstitious." He replied. "Isaac thought we'd have a better life here, he took a chance, it's what we do."
"He failed." Madam replied icily. "We're stuck on this gods-forsaken island, where there isn't a decent open lot to pitch camp in. And if Isaac's drunken stupor weren't enough, he had to die the same day as our Elephant."
"You're just a blundering old Blamie," Marnie muttered to the darker-skinned man. "And you're just a prissy legger." She snapped at the Elf. "And I'm off for a walk. My dad's dead, my elephant's dead. And all you two can talk about is what a crappy situation we're in. I need some time to think." She spun on her heels and headed back down the pier towards the rest of the city.
Today was not a good day, she thought lamely, kicking at the ground absentmindedly. And she'd seen their looks. Say what you like about Carnies, names and blood mattered to them. Isaac Majeec had been a fine Actor, a good Ring-Master. And now that he was dead, they would all look to her to lead them. "Blimey, we're screwed." She muttered darkly, heading deeper into the city, not caring where her feet took her.
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Post by Ribitta on Oct 14, 2012 0:51:17 GMT -5
She hated boats. That rocking gesturing the thing made of its own volition made her stomach churn twice as hard. Earth was always preferred to wood or metal to have under your feet, but having wood and then water underneath even that? Absolutely not! The very thought was the most reproachable thing she could imagine, but to actually be a part of it was truly the most horrendous thing. Every day since setting out for the island of Voya she had thrown up every single day, often multiple times, and eating was quickly becoming a chore. Would she throw up before or after her stomach had gotten something out the meal? Who could know! All you had to do was try and get some food down and enjoy the feeling of another meal being permanently removed from the menu. She hated boats.
It had been two weeks of this torture straight, but the captain reported that within the next few minutes they would finally be at their destination. Terre wanted to lean over the edge and take a look at where she was suffering to reach, but those frothing blue waves collapsing on each other but sending different jostles into the thing she was standing on... That was it, she was going to sick up again. The adolescent woman threw the door of her cabin open and rushed to the edge of the water, emptying her breakfast over the side of the ship.
Wiping her mouth, Terre looked up, her stomach unable to commit anymore war-crimes for the time being. Muttering something foul under her breath, she noted that their destination was practically upon them. She had been so close to keeping her breakfast. Glancing across the water, she tried to get as much information about Voya from afar, before she was trapped inside of it.
The ports were nothing like she had ever seen before, the massive ships able to dock only meters away from the landmass, since, as she understood it, hundreds of feet of water were between them and solid ground. She shuddered at the notion and hoped it wasn't going to be as bad as this. The gap between them and the island was all but gone now, though, and the strong men of the ship were bustling by to tether the ship; no anchors here, the bottom was much too far away.
The wooden ramp for getting off deployed, and Terre was the second passenger to escape that horrible wooden contraption, almost jumping the thing to be away from her captor. Pack on her back, Terre's bare foot struck the metal surface, and she froze in place until someone gave her a shove from behind. At least, she had thought it was metal, but she had never felt anything like it before. Any mineral or resource from the earth always resonated back with her at least a little bit. But this? She felt nothing, and she wanted to cry.
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Post by Steinerman on Oct 14, 2012 1:24:59 GMT -5
Humming randomly as she meandered, Marnie's mind wandered in step with her feet. Even now, without any conscious thought, her walk took on a sort of dance-like quality, nimbly hopping from one foot to the other, drawing the attention of the local citizenry. And, to her sudden consternation, a passing pair of local law enforcement.
In their few short weeks on the island, the Majeec Carnies hadn't exactly endeared themselves with the local law. A crazy bunch such as they didn't get along well with law in any part of the land, and being even more out-of-place on this blasted island hadn't helped their relationship in the slightest.
She slowed her pace and movements to something more normal, and swiftly slanted her fedora even further to partially obscure her face. A sharp turn later and she was headed over a bridge that led to yet another of the myriad docks and piers.
And here, she was alone for a few precious moments, the particular bridge she'd steered her feet onto was deserted. Her head tilted to the side, her eyes took on a far-off look. Really, her father had just died. But . . . it was the loss of the Elephant, Missy, that seemed more prevalent in her mind. "Some daughter I am."
But those thoughts quickly fell prey to a mixture of annoyance and heart-wrenching fear. She was Isaac's daughter, and by default now the Ring-Mistress of the Majeec Carnivale. She'd have to do the books, which she already knew were dismal. And she'd have to keep the peace between the Rousties and the Actors, with both groups already restless and looking for trouble. "Screwed doesn't even begin to describe what we are." She stated loudly, exasperation clear in her tone.
Belatedly she realized that she'd sped up and reached the next pier faster than anticipated. Her outburst had drawn the stares of several sailors newly returned. Most of whom looked curiously at the crazy ginger talking to the air. She growled and speedily flipped the sailors off. "Can't you see a gel's having a private conversation, eyeah?" she questioned of them with annoyance.
The majority of the sailors swiftly decided she was just another crazy foreigner driven to their curious city by the conflicts in the rest of the world, and turned back to their work, though several glowered at the rude girl. But Marnie continued her aimless path, kicking at the ground whenever she could, not caring in the slightest what they thought of her actions.
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Post by Ribitta on Oct 14, 2012 18:31:13 GMT -5
"Alis--" she shot him a scowl and he bit his tongue, "Terre. You have to understand the chances of you ever finding him are virtually none. He could be anywhere!"
"He's somewhere, though."
"Even if Tenor's still alive, that's only because he's in the last possible place you'd think to look for him."
Her response was thoughtful, all of a sudden, not just sour or sarcastic, "...last possible place? That's the first helpful idea I've heard from you in a year, Woren." She sounded almost excited at the thought, and the man named Woren raised his hands suddenly as if to take back his words.
"Hey, hey, don't get any funny ideas. You know just as well as I do that there's almost no chance he's even still alive."
Normally he would have received a hurt look from her after that one, but she was in her own world now, running through mental maps with pins and strings all across them. It was years of work with an impossible goal run by the worst candidate, but she wouldn't let that phase her. Last possible place...
The desert? No, she had investigated that.
Korin territory? No, that was even more likely, if anything.
"The floating city!" she declared with excitement, "he always wanted to see it. He must be there."
And that was how this whole thing had started. Woren refused to leave Allondell, but he had paid for Terre's passage by ship. In her mind she tried to fix her goals and principles, reminding herself why she would suffer for this. But that thought was cut short as she collided into another woman who seemed to be talking to herself, their heads striking since their height was surprisingly similar.
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Post by Steinerman on Oct 14, 2012 19:28:59 GMT -5
Marnie stumbled with the impact, and then reeled backwards, though mostly out of instinct to shy away from whatever had struck her. She hadn't been paying much attention, and all she knew was that her head hurt like an Orc had just backhanded her.
Instinct kicked in, telling her one of the sailors had had enough of her arrogance and had come to teach the little foreigner some respect. With one hand she reached under her vest, aiming to pull out the knife hidden at her waist. But something caught her eye and slowed her movements.
She paused, her body slouched over a tad, though a slight shift in her body weight turned a slouch into her own oddball sort of lean. She hadn't been attacked, a girl of a matching height had run into her, colliding their heads together quite nicely.
Marnie's eyes narrowed, though a bemused smile teased the corners of her lips. "Eyeah, little one. You've got a hard head." She quipped, rubbing her own head with her free hand, a red mark half-way visible where she'd collided with the dark-haired girl.
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Post by Ribitta on Oct 14, 2012 19:45:34 GMT -5
The collision sent the girl reeling, and a moment later she was sprawled out across the ground, her hands barely catching her fall on the metal walk. That feeling off nothingness beneath her feet and hands made her want to shiver again, unable to use the sense she had become so accustomed to. What was more important for a moment, though, was the fact that her head felt like it was going to split open, the point of impact already beginning to throb a bit. Her vision readjusted a moment later, and wildly she looked to see what exactly had happened, wondering if she was going to have to defend herself already. Could she even, if it came down to it? She couldn't move the metal she was on, and she didn't see anything nearby.
What she did see was another woman, older than her but not much taller it seemed. Terre would have guessed the woman Allondell by facial features, but the skin-tone and accent were difficult to place. Accent. She was talking to her, wasn't she?
"I... sorry," the girl responded automatically, suddenly feeling vulnerable on the docks surrounded by all these people and with nothing to hurl back at them. The other woman didn't look terribly mean, but Terre thought she had seen her move for a weapon. She didn't know anything about the culture here at Voya, but she hoped it wasn't like what she had read about some other port cities. Was the woman a native? It didn't matter.
Trying to recover, Terre scrambled to her feet, looking around anxiously and asking before she could stop herself, "Hey, do you know where the closest park is?" She hoped something like that would be on this horrible island. Some amount of earth amidst this landmass of vexation would be most welcome. Hopefully if she could play it off like she had an immediate goal then she could get out of this situation as quickly as possible.
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Post by Steinerman on Oct 14, 2012 20:17:43 GMT -5
The throbbing in her head seemed to only add to the already horrible day she'd been having. But the line about the park . . . that brought a viciously sarcastic smile to her face, showing far too many teeth. "Eyeah, a pitch-ground, eh? There's a few, but they're all poshy and blamie, too many trees, fake dirt. Won't let me in. Why ya looking for a pitch-ground anyways?" She questioned curiously, head still throbbing like a kettle-drum with a crazed Komala in it.
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Post by Ribitta on Oct 14, 2012 20:41:34 GMT -5
A pitch ground? What on earth was that supposed to be? Half the words this woman used Terre didn't understand, and that grin she sported didn't seem particularly friendly. She felt like her plans were already falling apart, too, as the woman mentioned that even the earth in the parks was all fake. This place was getting worse and worse by the minute and so was her day. Her head was still aching, and she tried to use it to think. A pitch ground, that was what she seemed to be referring to parks as, though Terre had no idea why. Part of her just wanted to bid this woman farewell and scamper off into the island as quick as possible, but it sounded like this woman knew what she was talking about, even if she hadn't been helpful yet.
"I'm meeting someone there," she lied quickly, not wanting to explain her situation. "Can you tell me which one is furthest from the water?" Maybe if she got out of sight from the water she would calm down slightly, but right now all she could think about was that horrible feeling underneath her feet with thousands of feet of water below even that. She needed something familiar before she broke down completely.
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Post by Steinerman on Oct 14, 2012 22:22:06 GMT -5
"Criminy, gel, trying to get away from water on a floating city?" Marnie shook her head, noticing with a measure of amusement that the other girl seemed to have a throbbing headache too. "I think there's a big ol' central . . . wossaname, Park. Yeah, a central park, near the middle of this place. It's a fair distance walk, though." She winked slyly at the dark-haired girl, "Course, if you didn't like water, you picked a hellish place fer a clandestine meet-up with your Voyan boytoy."
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Post by Ribitta on Oct 14, 2012 23:22:39 GMT -5
"I don't mind the water," Terre began slowly, "I just like the land better..." A straight answer had chilled her nerves momentarily, and for a moment she forgot that she had been trying to get away from this women a moment ago. Away from that water too. The woman was back to being less hostile in Terre's eyes, though, and her desperate need to be comforted in this situation latched on to that. Maybe she hadn't run into the worst of them. Rubbing the spot on her head that felt like it had been cracked open a moment earlier, and she could already feel a bump starting to form there. Well, just for the sake of knowing if someone was going to be on her tail, she figured it would be good to ask, "Are you... from around here?" Terre had no idea what the locals in Voya were like, but if they were all like this woman... she couldn't decide if that would be good or bad.
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Post by Steinerman on Oct 15, 2012 0:35:27 GMT -5
Marnie rolled her eyes, finally lowering her hand from her head. It wasn't helping much, and while she was fine with looking intentionally silly, holding her hand up there for no reason was just dumb silly, and that was all the difference in the world.
"Me? A local? Eyeah girlie, I think you hit your head harder than I did." And here, the theatrical side of her took a bow. Her hand wound it's way up to her hat and tipped the brim courteously, while at the same time her right leg dawdled its way out to the side and her entire body dipped in a curious mixture of curtsey and bow. "Marnie Majeec, of the Majeec Carnivale. If it please ye 'gov. Hail from Allondell, myself." She ended with another wink.
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Post by Ribitta on Oct 15, 2012 0:57:53 GMT -5
She rubbed the spot on her head subconsciously, as if she believed the woman for a moment. Allondell, she said? No place in Allondell Terre had ever been before, but that wasn't impossible, especially if this lady was, actually, with a carnival. That seemed to tie everything together for the girl, and she relaxed a bit more as things started to make sense. Terre had only visited a carnival once, and it hadn't been to pass the time by idly, so she didn't know much about them besides the fact that there were plenty of strange folk with that lot. A thought occurred to her, though, and she doubled back on it, daring to ask the woman she had just met. She liked to think of herself as independent, but the truth was that since leaving her hometown she had always had a friend or at least an acquaintance at her side the whole way. People weren't always so bad. Except when they were. Then they were bad.
"Carnival, huh? What are you doing all the way by the water, then? do you perform on the ships?" Probably not, since she had been complaining about now finding a good place to put up their tents. Terre still had no idea why these people were here, but suddenly talking to someone after practically three weeks of solitude felt surprisingly relieving, almost to the point of forgetting that horrible feeling beneath her feet.
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Post by Steinerman on Oct 15, 2012 1:09:32 GMT -5
Marnie blinked, buying time to answer the suddenly painful question. Why had they come here? She gave the girl another manic smile, still frantically thinking over an answer. Even contemplating for a moment not answering at all. "Eh," She finally said with a slow shrug, "Not big fans of water, ourselves. Boats make the livestock all sorts of whacko. Nah, we came here to get away from the Korin and Stamarians and their war. Me da . . ." And here she paused for a moment, eyes narrowing ever-so-slightly in concentration. "My father, that is." She continued, her pronunciation of the words taking a slight turn for the better.
"He brought us here, Voya isn't known for their carnivales. We thought we could make a good living for a while, wowing them with our alien charms." She nodded seriously, though her sarcastic eyes gave credence to the fact that of all the things the locals thought of she and her kind, "wow" wasn't among them.
"But eyeah, what can ya do, eh? No money to get home, got to work it here. How 'bout you, girlie? You a Voyan come home to roost? don't look it, but then, looks are lies."
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Post by Ribitta on Oct 15, 2012 13:40:15 GMT -5
Looks are lies. It would be a while before she forgot that one. Thinking of Marnie as a performer made Terre's job of trying to figure her out quite a bit easier, but it wasn't to say that her work was all done for her. By the way she talked, the younger woman guessed that Marnie wasn't exactly thrilled to be on Voya either, though the reasons must have been different than her own. No surprises there--everyone had different reasons and goals, especially compared to her own. How many people trecked across the planet before they were eighteen to try and find someone everyone claimed was dead? Terre wouldn't believe that; she couldn't.
"Sometimes I wish," she said quietly, doubting that her problems with the Stamarians or her own... quirks would have manifested in a place like this. For a detached moment she could almost feel the peace in a place like this, so far away from the horrible world powers that threatened to crush everything. But her own feelings of unrest quickly knocked her out of that moment, and she shook her head sharply. "Look, I don't mind talking to you," she didn't mind at all, in fact, even though she thought she might have. Maybe it had just been too long since she'd had a somewhat friendly face, "But not here." Two shirtless, hairy men squeezed around her, smelling like death, and she shuffled uncomfortably in the thronging dock that was sufficiently packed with people. "Can you show me this park?" Maybe she could help, even. Depended on how fake it was.
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Post by Steinerman on Oct 15, 2012 20:02:16 GMT -5
Marnie almost asked for payment. It was second nature. Had been almost since birth. Always looking for a way to get more money out of everyone who wasn't a carnie. But then, she needed a walk, and maybe the park wasn't such a bad idea. Give her time to think. Keep her away from Old Boot's tired eyes, and Madam's aloof stares. So she nodded sharply, "Eyeah, I can do that. Hope your feet aren't too sore, doh. Got a fair bit of leg-work to do."
She spun, a certain amount of grace in her movements. Smiling sarcastically at the world. "Come come, girlie, you asked for a pitch-ground, let's go see one."
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