Everyday Tedium [OPEN]
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Pangaea Island :: Graveyard :: Pre-reset
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Everyday Tedium [OPEN]
Anais Duquaine Wed Feb 02, 2011 11:58 pm
Anais, resting on her stomach and idly watching a group of her younger cousins running around, sighed heavily. Babysitting duty hadn't been in her plans for the day. What she'd wanted to do was spend the day at the shores - but no, one of her aunts had asked her to watch the children. And it wasn't like she could really say no. Someone had to keep an eye on them, or they might end up in trouble.
A small smirk played on her lips. Runs in the family, doesn't it?
Sadly, her amusement didn't last for very long. It was only a few short moments before she found herself sighing again, bored out of her skull. If something had to interfere with her trip down to the shores, she wished it was something else - anything else. But she couldn't sneak into one of the other quarters today. She'd done some pickpocketing just two days before, and it would be way too risky to go back now.
And the Citadel was way too heavily guarded for her to even consider sneaking in there for a look around... She had plans to go there eventually, but today definitely wasn't the day for them.
"Ugh." She sat up and brushed some dirt off the front of her dress, but couldn't be bothered to give it a thorough cleaning. Her cousins were still playing some sort of game - tag, she was pretty sure, while earlier they'd been playing some other game where they sat in a circle and one person went around until they stopped on someone before they got chased - and they seemed to be rather occupied. She glanced in the direction of the shores. How much trouble could the little ones get into if she left them alone for a few hours, really?
Then she sighed again. A lot of trouble, she answered herself. It seemed she was stuck with a dull, boring day.
A small smirk played on her lips. Runs in the family, doesn't it?
Sadly, her amusement didn't last for very long. It was only a few short moments before she found herself sighing again, bored out of her skull. If something had to interfere with her trip down to the shores, she wished it was something else - anything else. But she couldn't sneak into one of the other quarters today. She'd done some pickpocketing just two days before, and it would be way too risky to go back now.
And the Citadel was way too heavily guarded for her to even consider sneaking in there for a look around... She had plans to go there eventually, but today definitely wasn't the day for them.
"Ugh." She sat up and brushed some dirt off the front of her dress, but couldn't be bothered to give it a thorough cleaning. Her cousins were still playing some sort of game - tag, she was pretty sure, while earlier they'd been playing some other game where they sat in a circle and one person went around until they stopped on someone before they got chased - and they seemed to be rather occupied. She glanced in the direction of the shores. How much trouble could the little ones get into if she left them alone for a few hours, really?
Then she sighed again. A lot of trouble, she answered herself. It seemed she was stuck with a dull, boring day.
Anais Duquaine- Posts : 12
Join date : 2011-02-01
Re: Everyday Tedium [OPEN]
Arthur Kirkland Fri Feb 04, 2011 11:33 am
Arthur pulled his hood carefully over his head as he subtly made his way past the guards around the Citadel. Their job wasn't really to keep people from coming out of the Citadel, so it was easy enough to get by them without arousing suspicion, but Arthur still felt a distinct sense of accomplishment as he left the gleaming building behind and took to the dirty, poor streets of the Southwestern Quarter. Some people might think he was crazy for wanting to spend so much time helping these people, but Arthur couldn't help himself. He was a rather charitable soul by nature.
And today, he had decided to just take the day off. Never mind paperwork and prayers - he would deal with those later. Even the Speaker of the Gods deserved a day off sometimes. And, besides that, he wanted a day off, and that was important enough to warrant one. At least in his mind it was.
So Arthur spent the majority of the day just wandering around the streets, observing the life taking place there. Some of it was unsavory. Actually, most of it was unsavory in one way or another. But there was still a lot of beauty here, and Arthur really appreciated it. Especially when he stumbled upon a small group of children playing. He couldn't help but smile at them as they ran around, tagging each other and laughing, enjoying themselves.
Glancing up from the children, he saw a young girl watching over them, looking very bored. She looked much too young to be a mother, but Arthur knew that it could - and often did - happen, especially in the Southwestern Quarter. "Your children are very well-behaved," he said, by way of a compliment. They weren't necessarily well-behaved at all, but they were certainly entertaining him right now.
And today, he had decided to just take the day off. Never mind paperwork and prayers - he would deal with those later. Even the Speaker of the Gods deserved a day off sometimes. And, besides that, he wanted a day off, and that was important enough to warrant one. At least in his mind it was.
So Arthur spent the majority of the day just wandering around the streets, observing the life taking place there. Some of it was unsavory. Actually, most of it was unsavory in one way or another. But there was still a lot of beauty here, and Arthur really appreciated it. Especially when he stumbled upon a small group of children playing. He couldn't help but smile at them as they ran around, tagging each other and laughing, enjoying themselves.
Glancing up from the children, he saw a young girl watching over them, looking very bored. She looked much too young to be a mother, but Arthur knew that it could - and often did - happen, especially in the Southwestern Quarter. "Your children are very well-behaved," he said, by way of a compliment. They weren't necessarily well-behaved at all, but they were certainly entertaining him right now.
Arthur Kirkland- Posts : 4
Join date : 2011-01-22
Re: Everyday Tedium [OPEN]
Anais Duquaine Fri Feb 04, 2011 3:49 pm
Three courses of action came to mind when Anais heard the man's voice and the meaning of what he said sank in.
#1 - Be offended. A "They aren't my kids, you jerk, do I look like a mother to you?!" and a practiced glare-slash-pout would be more than sufficient in keeping him from wondering why she was storming away, and she could then head for the shores like she'd planned to. Granted, that did mean skipping out on babysitting duty, but her aunts and uncles would probably understand. It wasn't like Anais's temper didn't run in the family; one of her younger aunts, who didn't have kids (yet), had been completely offended when she'd been mistaken for her nephew's mother, and she'd done the exact same thing.
#2 - Be opportunistic, version A. "You think? Thank you! Then, since they're behaving, I can probably leave them alone for a little bit to run some errands..." The children were rather occupied with their game of tag, and they weren't too far away from where they lived. Even if something did happen, there wasn't a single Duquaine who didn't have a heightened sense of self-preservation (though sometimes her family wondered about her since she spent so much time on the "dangerous" shores). She knew full well that her cousins were intelligent enough to find a way home if something happened, and tricky enough to run circles around any potential threats while doing so. Then again, even the most cunning often found themselves in trouble in the slums... Which led her to her next option.
#3 - Be opportunistic, version B. "You think they're well-behaved? Then, would you mind watching them for a few minutes while I go take care of something?" A few minutes would, of course, turn into a few hours, and the cloaked man just came off as the type that wouldn't be able to ignore it if there was a group of kids that needed watching. Anais was pretty sure he had a conscience. If he walked away after she put the responsibility for the group into his hands, and the kids got hurt, then she was about eighty-nine percent sure that he'd blame himself if he found out about it. It was the remaining 11% that made her consider not leaving him to watch them, though. The guy was wearing a cloak and they were in the Southwest Quarter. It was awfully suspicious...
It was generally a good idea to not trust strangers around here, even if Anais was pretty sure she'd seen the man somewhere before. His voice sounded familiar, at least. But no way could it be who she was wondering about, could it? She, being in the habit of ditching out on the slums to spend most of her time by the shores or spend most of her time learning to blend in in the other quarters, wasn't strictly aware of the Speaker's forays into the bad part of town. She'd heard rumors, but experience with those who looked down on Southwesterners made her dismiss them as just that: Rumors, poorly constructed ones to try to give the kids and elderly hope that someday things would get better.
Darn it, that meant she had to stay, and she couldn't just ignore the guy, either.
"...they're my cousins, not my kids." She rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders. "I'll pass the compliment on to their parents." She cast a longing glance in the direction of the shores before turning back to him and putting a hand on her hip. "You're not from around here, are you?" If he was, he probably would have recognized the kids. The Duquaines weren't a prominent family, per se, but between the sheer number of people that stayed together without murdering anyone and the fact that she was known around the Southwest Quarter as an oddball who kept leaving the relative safety of their designated area (not to mention their tanned skin - for whatever reason, there weren't a whole lot of people with dark skin around here other than them), permanent residents of the Quarter could usually recognize them.
She leaned forward and peered up at him to get a good look at his face, frowning softly. "So what brings you down here?" If it was some rich jerk who was just curious about how his 'lessers' lived, he was so getting pickpocketed before the day was through. Anais was rather tired of condescension and pity.
#1 - Be offended. A "They aren't my kids, you jerk, do I look like a mother to you?!" and a practiced glare-slash-pout would be more than sufficient in keeping him from wondering why she was storming away, and she could then head for the shores like she'd planned to. Granted, that did mean skipping out on babysitting duty, but her aunts and uncles would probably understand. It wasn't like Anais's temper didn't run in the family; one of her younger aunts, who didn't have kids (yet), had been completely offended when she'd been mistaken for her nephew's mother, and she'd done the exact same thing.
#2 - Be opportunistic, version A. "You think? Thank you! Then, since they're behaving, I can probably leave them alone for a little bit to run some errands..." The children were rather occupied with their game of tag, and they weren't too far away from where they lived. Even if something did happen, there wasn't a single Duquaine who didn't have a heightened sense of self-preservation (though sometimes her family wondered about her since she spent so much time on the "dangerous" shores). She knew full well that her cousins were intelligent enough to find a way home if something happened, and tricky enough to run circles around any potential threats while doing so. Then again, even the most cunning often found themselves in trouble in the slums... Which led her to her next option.
#3 - Be opportunistic, version B. "You think they're well-behaved? Then, would you mind watching them for a few minutes while I go take care of something?" A few minutes would, of course, turn into a few hours, and the cloaked man just came off as the type that wouldn't be able to ignore it if there was a group of kids that needed watching. Anais was pretty sure he had a conscience. If he walked away after she put the responsibility for the group into his hands, and the kids got hurt, then she was about eighty-nine percent sure that he'd blame himself if he found out about it. It was the remaining 11% that made her consider not leaving him to watch them, though. The guy was wearing a cloak and they were in the Southwest Quarter. It was awfully suspicious...
It was generally a good idea to not trust strangers around here, even if Anais was pretty sure she'd seen the man somewhere before. His voice sounded familiar, at least. But no way could it be who she was wondering about, could it? She, being in the habit of ditching out on the slums to spend most of her time by the shores or spend most of her time learning to blend in in the other quarters, wasn't strictly aware of the Speaker's forays into the bad part of town. She'd heard rumors, but experience with those who looked down on Southwesterners made her dismiss them as just that: Rumors, poorly constructed ones to try to give the kids and elderly hope that someday things would get better.
Darn it, that meant she had to stay, and she couldn't just ignore the guy, either.
"...they're my cousins, not my kids." She rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders. "I'll pass the compliment on to their parents." She cast a longing glance in the direction of the shores before turning back to him and putting a hand on her hip. "You're not from around here, are you?" If he was, he probably would have recognized the kids. The Duquaines weren't a prominent family, per se, but between the sheer number of people that stayed together without murdering anyone and the fact that she was known around the Southwest Quarter as an oddball who kept leaving the relative safety of their designated area (not to mention their tanned skin - for whatever reason, there weren't a whole lot of people with dark skin around here other than them), permanent residents of the Quarter could usually recognize them.
She leaned forward and peered up at him to get a good look at his face, frowning softly. "So what brings you down here?" If it was some rich jerk who was just curious about how his 'lessers' lived, he was so getting pickpocketed before the day was through. Anais was rather tired of condescension and pity.
Anais Duquaine- Posts : 12
Join date : 2011-02-01
Re: Everyday Tedium [OPEN]
Arthur Kirkland Wed Feb 09, 2011 5:44 pm
It took everything in Arthur not to flinch at the tone emanating from the young girl. So they hadn't been her children after all. Well didn't that make him feel ridiculously foolish? Gritting his teeth, Arthur made a mental note to never assume anything ever again. He likely would never follow through with that particular note, but it was the thought of making it that counted, right? He would try, at the very least, to see things as they were. After all, that was his gift.
At her first question, Arthur made a fumbling move to pull his hood more securely over his head, trying to hide his face and any distinguishing features people might pick out. "Ah, no. Not precisely..."
But suddenly the girl was peering up into his hood, looking directly at his face, and Arthur's capacity to hold back his own flustering disappeared entirely. He stumbled backwards a little and nearly tripped in the process. 'Bollocks,' he thought, righting himself before he had the chance to look even more foolish than he already felt. He cleared his throat and attempted to sound more dignified than he knew he looked. Curses on the silly cape and hood...
"I was... simply surveying the area." A very succinct truth. "I like to come here sometimes to see how bad it is." If only Arthur could tell just how much that made him look the villain... Ah well!
At her first question, Arthur made a fumbling move to pull his hood more securely over his head, trying to hide his face and any distinguishing features people might pick out. "Ah, no. Not precisely..."
But suddenly the girl was peering up into his hood, looking directly at his face, and Arthur's capacity to hold back his own flustering disappeared entirely. He stumbled backwards a little and nearly tripped in the process. 'Bollocks,' he thought, righting himself before he had the chance to look even more foolish than he already felt. He cleared his throat and attempted to sound more dignified than he knew he looked. Curses on the silly cape and hood...
"I was... simply surveying the area." A very succinct truth. "I like to come here sometimes to see how bad it is." If only Arthur could tell just how much that made him look the villain... Ah well!
Arthur Kirkland- Posts : 4
Join date : 2011-01-22
Re: Everyday Tedium [OPEN]
Anais Duquaine Thu Feb 10, 2011 1:35 pm
His face... it was vaguely familiar. A small voice from the back of her mind whispered that maybe the rumors about the Speaker were true, but she dismissed it. It was probably just a lookalike. Blond hair? Many people had that. Green eyes? That was common. Bushy eyebrows? Well, for a rich person, it wasn't something that one saw every day - after all, they could afford luxuries like proper grooming - but it did happen from time to time. She'd seen a few people with thick eyebrows during her forays into the other parts of town, and of course there was the family in the Southwest Quarter who all seemed to have thick brows. Just because the Speaker had these traits didn't mean there was no one else who could.
So there was no way it could be him. Even if the amount of condescension in his words - whether he meant them or not - was rather typical of the teenager's perception of people who resided in the Citadel...
Her frown deepened. "Does seeing how badly off everyone else is make you feel better about your riches? Does it make you feel like you've done something to deserve what you've got? I'm sure you must think we're all lazy bums around here and that we're only so poor because we allow ourselves to be. Everyone else does." She crossed her arms and turned away from him, mentally going over the various ways she might be able to get away with stealing from him. If he wanted to see how bad things were here that much, he could experience it firsthand!
She caught sight of a jug of water out of the corner of her eye. It could work... but no, whoever owned that water definitely needed it. And she wasn't entirely sure that she had enough control to make what she needed to happen, happen.
So there was no way it could be him. Even if the amount of condescension in his words - whether he meant them or not - was rather typical of the teenager's perception of people who resided in the Citadel...
Her frown deepened. "Does seeing how badly off everyone else is make you feel better about your riches? Does it make you feel like you've done something to deserve what you've got? I'm sure you must think we're all lazy bums around here and that we're only so poor because we allow ourselves to be. Everyone else does." She crossed her arms and turned away from him, mentally going over the various ways she might be able to get away with stealing from him. If he wanted to see how bad things were here that much, he could experience it firsthand!
She caught sight of a jug of water out of the corner of her eye. It could work... but no, whoever owned that water definitely needed it. And she wasn't entirely sure that she had enough control to make what she needed to happen, happen.
Anais Duquaine- Posts : 12
Join date : 2011-02-01
Re: Everyday Tedium [OPEN]
Arthur Kirkland Fri Feb 18, 2011 5:49 pm
Quite suddenly, Arthur was hit with the terrible realization that he had said something very wrong. At first, because of the way the young lady's demeanor changed, and then her words hit him and it took everything in Arthur not to choke. She thought he was gloating? With wealth that he certainly didn't actually have?? Anything he owned technically belonged to the church. All in all, Arthur had never actually been a wealthy man, even if he was raised in a rather luxurious setting.
He lifted his hands slightly in a gesture of surrender, hoping to keep the girl from getting too upset by his miswording. "You misunderstand, miss. I want to help, not hurt the situation." He was starting to feel mildly flustered and his cheeks were turning a little red.
"Please, don't get so upset. There's really no reason to." For some reason, he had a rather nasty tendency to phrase himself so very badly when he got flustered or confused about a situation...
He lifted his hands slightly in a gesture of surrender, hoping to keep the girl from getting too upset by his miswording. "You misunderstand, miss. I want to help, not hurt the situation." He was starting to feel mildly flustered and his cheeks were turning a little red.
"Please, don't get so upset. There's really no reason to." For some reason, he had a rather nasty tendency to phrase himself so very badly when he got flustered or confused about a situation...
Arthur Kirkland- Posts : 4
Join date : 2011-01-22
Re: Everyday Tedium [OPEN]
Anais Duquaine Fri Feb 18, 2011 6:13 pm
By now, the girl's cousins had stopped their game of tag to watch what was going on with mild amusement. The oldest of them, a dark-skinned boy who'd had seven years of dealing with Anais, decided that this would probably be a good time to herd the others back to their house, so he did; his older cousin saw the group of kids returning home and her lips curled up into a smile for the briefest of moments. She could easily behave as badly as she wanted to now that they were leaving and she was essentially freed from being a good role model.
"No reason?!" The girl turned back to narrow her eyes at him. Maybe she'd have let it go at "misunderstanding"... but "no reason"? She didn't know his background, and even if she did, it probably wouldn't have mattered to her - old enough to babysit she might have been, but she was far from mature. And what he'd just said offended her.
Offended enough that her earlier observation that whoever owned that jug of water would probably need it went right out the window... She grumbled a few words under her breath. Between that and the look of concentration on her face, it really did look as if she were wishing death on him.
Really, she was just murmuring a request to the water in that jug. A request to soak the man her eyes were locked on. Nothing happened at first, but after a few moments she saw the water's surface ripple though there was nothing else to cause it to do so. Victory.
"My whole life, I'm going to be looked down on just because of where I was born. It's been like that for my parents, their parents... it's going to be like that for my cousins and for my kids whenever I get married off." Anais rolled her eyes. "And then you come down here, saying you want to see how bad things are - and you say there's no reason to be offended by that? Give me one reason why I should believe for a second that someone like you would want to help anyone down here!"
Her eyes flicked up to a spot just above his head, then back down to his face. Hopefully he'd noticed her look and think to get out of the way, because if not, the water that had trailed its way behind and then above him was going to come crashing down, and Anais wasn't going to think twice about stealing anything of value he had on him while "helping" him recover from the "freak rainstorm."
"No reason?!" The girl turned back to narrow her eyes at him. Maybe she'd have let it go at "misunderstanding"... but "no reason"? She didn't know his background, and even if she did, it probably wouldn't have mattered to her - old enough to babysit she might have been, but she was far from mature. And what he'd just said offended her.
Offended enough that her earlier observation that whoever owned that jug of water would probably need it went right out the window... She grumbled a few words under her breath. Between that and the look of concentration on her face, it really did look as if she were wishing death on him.
Really, she was just murmuring a request to the water in that jug. A request to soak the man her eyes were locked on. Nothing happened at first, but after a few moments she saw the water's surface ripple though there was nothing else to cause it to do so. Victory.
"My whole life, I'm going to be looked down on just because of where I was born. It's been like that for my parents, their parents... it's going to be like that for my cousins and for my kids whenever I get married off." Anais rolled her eyes. "And then you come down here, saying you want to see how bad things are - and you say there's no reason to be offended by that? Give me one reason why I should believe for a second that someone like you would want to help anyone down here!"
Her eyes flicked up to a spot just above his head, then back down to his face. Hopefully he'd noticed her look and think to get out of the way, because if not, the water that had trailed its way behind and then above him was going to come crashing down, and Anais wasn't going to think twice about stealing anything of value he had on him while "helping" him recover from the "freak rainstorm."
Anais Duquaine- Posts : 12
Join date : 2011-02-01
Pangaea Island :: Graveyard :: Pre-reset
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