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 Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2013 10:37 pm
Crims had lost track of how much time had elapsed since Iris' circus left Saturn. He had quickly been swept up in all of the hustle and bustle that came with being a lowly page. There hadn't been much time for him to really think, or reflect, upon anything other than lessons and training. His training regimen had intensified as he had grown closer to attaining his next rank, sparring had become more frequent and his opponents more experienced soldiers.
He had discovered that he was not as proficient against the older pages and even less so against the seasoned squires as he had thought.
Still, it deterred him little as he simply strove to up his game. Often it meant that he spent longer hours than most working on the forms and techniques he observed from his fellow knights. Ambition often got the better of the boy, though it left him more haggard than most. His long hours didn't deter him from seeking any form of entertainment, whether it was the "approved" sort or the sort he found himself enjoying most.
It had been what led him to slip from his quarters, what had led him to walk the streets clothed in the plainest outfit he could procure. His hair was long and messy, sticking up in every which way as though he ran his hand through it one too many times and static had clung to it. The golden eyed boy didn't seem to mind, instead he moved quickly through streets.
He had heard that Iris' traveling troupe had made it back to Saturn and hoped to stumble into a certain blonde. He had missed the performance due to training but he figured that she'd likely be wandering the cobblestone streets.
If he was lucky he would bump into her.
He was lucky more often than not.
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Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2013 11:42 pm
What would be the fun of being a traveling show if one did not enjoy each world that was visited? If one just stayed holed up in the tents, then one wasn't truly enjoying the point of traveling.
The world of Saturn was mostly a drab looking place. Sure, there were tons of shades of various greys and blacks, but even being able to distinguish the various shades of grey, it didn't make things any less dreary.
Iris stood out quite easily. She decided it wouldn't be appropriate for her to wander the city in her show costumes, but her clothing was not nearly as dull as what the natives wore. All one could really see was the light cloak she was wearing upon her body which seemed to shimmer of varying colors of the rainbow. It masked her senshi fuku, though the tell-tale tiara over her forehead was sign enough that she was another world's senshi.
It would not be hard to find such a girl, but just outside of what one could assume to be a pub, the foreigner danced with a small container on the ground. It had collected some of the currency for the world from the occasional onlooker.
It wasn't her first time doing such, but her people would have been extremely upset to see this girl using such (spiritual) techniques to gain money. However, the Iridians would never understand how other worlds did not necessarily use barter as the common method for exchanging goods.
What they don't know won't hurt them... she mused with a smile as she continued to perform for whoever was willing to pass by and share with her.
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 9:57 pm
Crims only had a slight idea of the type of girl that Iris was, which meant he only had kind of an idea of where to look for her. Luckily for him (as luck always seemed to be on his side), he ran into little trouble when it came to finding her. He spotted her fairly quickly, because really it was hard to miss her colorful cloak. Most inhabitants of Saturn wore dark colors so the multicolored piece of clothing stood out like a sore thumb.
He paused in the street, more than a few paces back to observe her and subsequently the passerby's who would stop and take in her dance. He couldn't help but grin, arms folded over his chest as he watched her entertain. He shook his head, amused.
What a show-off.
He stepped forward, tugging a hand through his dark hair while he waved the other one. "Oi! Iris!" He called slipping through various people to get closer to the blonde. "Heard you were in town, didn't figure you'd be a street-performer tonight though," he told her, "Can't say I'm not disappointed you're...dressed differently though. Looked better backstage," he teased.
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 11:05 pm
Her name was called out, and within a moment the girl had ceased her movements. An inquisitive look came to her gold eyes as she glanced through the faces before finding the one who was essentially heckling her.
To the others in the loose gathering, she gave a small bow and uttered "Thank you for your generosity!" before scooping up her seemingly burlap sack off the ground, gathering all loose currency before drawing up the strings and straightening up again.
Once her other onlookers seemed to clear out a bit, the senshi meandered over to the Page, an honest looking smile touching her features. "Well... I was hungry, and I don't have any of this world's currency... and I am pretty sure that Saturn isn't known for a bartering system..." She held up her bag and jostled it slightly so that the coins jangled a bit. Spinning on the ball of her foot, she turned towards the nearby pub.
"I have learned a few tricks when it comes to getting by on other worlds, Crims!" With a casual gesture towards the pub, she asked "...you hungry? I was planning to get something!"
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Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 9:47 pm
He couldn't hide his smirk as she bowed to her audience and gathered her meager earnings. The blonde was quite unpredictable, he was impressed(again). He wasn't so vocal about it this time, he did his best from letting it show on his face too. He liked to think he'd done a pretty good job.
When she explained herself he couldn't hide the quizzical expression that took over his face. "They didn't prepare you for that?" He asked having thought it would have been common-sense. Common-knowledge. Of course he had been used to it since even earth had multiple currencies. At first it didn't occur to him that it would be different on different planets, in different cultures.
"No, wait. Don't answer that," he followed with quickly, complete with a raised hand too silence her. "Different culture, duh." He shook his head, lifting his hands in the air in an 'of course, dummy you should have known that' way. "Sorry, Earth had many currencies and I see lots here too. Since we get to start traveling after we attain Squire status, they try to familiarize us with the major currencies," he shrugged like it was no big deal. It wasn't really. "Money from Venus, Jupiter, Moon and all the others. You'd think they'd have something more universal!"
His hands found their way into his pockets and he rocked back and forth from his heels to his toes. "Shoulda known you'd figure someway to make some dough. Don't get much from the circus?" He asked right before her food offer. "Yeah, why not. Did skip out on dinner to come find you," he teased.
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Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 10:26 pm
He questioned and then answered his own question quite adequately. She nodded to emphasize that his train of thought was quite on the spot.
"My home world runs completely off a bartering system, so there isn't a set currency. If I had been home... I would have probably traded a bag of wool for my dinner." She began to walk to the pub, assuming that Crims would tag along.
"I am pretty sure they won't accept such here..." She reached into her sack and pulled out a single coin, flipping it up into the air and snatching it back into the hand which tossed it up in the first place. At the door she did pause.
"...I'm used to traveling around... but it doesn't mean my mind doesn't default to the customs of my home. I am curious though... why would you skip dinner just to find lil' ol' me?" She batted her eyelashes, feigning a sort of innocence she probably didn't really have at all.
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 10:21 pm
He only half-payed attention to what she was saying to him. It made sense and was similar to what he had been taught the people of Earth used to do. "We did that, long time ago," he told her casually. "Well, Earth did any way. Don't know if Saturn did," he commented thoughtfully trying to decide if he should still classify him as a citizen of Earth or Saturn now. Perhaps he could claim dual-citizenship.
He wasn't sure if that was even allowed.
"I'm sure some cultures still do, but it isn't the norm any longer." Minor Earth history lesson for Iris. She probably wasn't too interested. When she mentioned that bartering wouldn't work here he nodded, "Haggling maybe, bartering? Nah. Not a chance." He wagged a finger at her. "Haggling only works some times. Only with the right patron too."
He slipped in front of her to pull the door open. He did a dramatic bow, folding an arm beneath him with a big goofy grin. "After you milady," he followed with looking up at her through his messy hair. He didn't waste time following behind her, letting the door click shut softly behind him.
The pub was dimly lit with a lengthy bar tucked to the left, booths off to the right and tables scattered throughout the middle. Near the entrance, at the end of the trail of booths(made up of six or seven of them) sat a grand piano played by one of the patrons. Classical sounds.
"Pick a table, any table."
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2013 8:11 pm
Initially, the gesture of the Page opening the door for her seemed lost upon her. Iris actually stopped at the door, looking at him curiously as he held the door open and did not enter himself. However, when he spoke up, her mouth formed a small "o" shape before she slipped in. Doors weren't really a common occurrence on her world, so the pleasantries dealing with doors were not always something she remembered.
He didn't even need to prompt her with where she wanted to sit. The moment she slipped in, she had taken a look at the surroundings and found the seat which was most suited to her tastes. The one closest to the piano.
It was the least gloomy thing in the room, aside from herself.
While her companion followed in line with her, she settled in at the booth, sitting both feet up in the chair in a very improper manner. She pulled up her bag and began to pull out what she had gathered. It would be hard to order food if one didn't know how much they had to begin with.
"Sooo... Crims... would you be able to tell me how much I managed to get here... or at least tell me what I'd be able to afford, and how much I'd have left afterwards?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2013 10:13 pm
Crims wasted no time plopping down into the seat across from her, arms settling on the table with ease as he leaned forward. He watched, quietly, as she pulled out her earnings and laid them before him. He looked down studying the array of coins and crinkled bills. He remained silent as he shifted through the money rearranging it in order of value, smoothing the bills as he got to them.
"Not too bad, were you dancing long?" He asked finally looking up.
He tapped her loot once. Then picked up a menu from the end of their booth and set it in front of her. "Any of these fish," he told her, running his index finger in a circle around a list of fish; similar to pike, herring, cod, and carp. "What would be Saturn's version of roasted goose," he moved his finger to point at it, forgetting that she may not know what geese were. "Or these greens." He sat back in his seat. "What you get will determine how much you'll have left. You wanting to save a lot or just a little?" He shrugged, "That will give me a better scope of where to direct you."
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Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2013 10:38 pm
A pair of eyes fixed themselves upon the menu, squinting a bit at the menu. It hinted that she was not necessarily a scholar of all written languages of the various worlds. Though the mentioned foods were all very foreign to her, she had some vague experience with many of them due to the Port City and her travels between worlds. Fish was perhaps what she could consider rarest to her, simply because of how fish didn't do well in desert worlds.
"...Fish or Goose..... fish or goose..." she mused aloud, making it clear she had decided that greens were not part of the consideration. The Page's inquiry about how much money she wanted to save caught her attention briefly.
"...oh... well... I only danced long enough to earn money for food... that was my only intention." She paused to gesture towards the piano player. "However, if I have anything left, I will be giving the rest to him." As a fellow performer, she could appreciate sharing her appreciation.
Glancing over the foreign text scrawled over the menu, she had to honestly ask "Is there a way I can just get both?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 12:45 pm
Usually Crims would eat with the other pages, and some of the squires, and his meals were always just served to him with whatever they had chosen to prepare for that particular meal. Because of that, he understood how difficult it was to pick when given the option. He had gotten used to eating whatever they put in front of him, it was what he had been taught to do. They were not just knights of Saturn but in many ways, representatives. To turn down the food offered was considered rude.
So he watched, amusement written all over his face, while she weighed her options.
He turned his head back to look at the pianist when she mentioned giving him the remains of her earnings should she have any left. He nodded his head, lopsided grin on his mouth. "He's pretty talented. Think he's actually playing a piece from Neptune, might even be from Neptune. Not too often you see bits of blue here," he told her making a reference to the man's blue trimming on his outfit. "Don't see much color really, we're a pretty...muted society here."
Saturn was drab and dreary at times but he had come to appreciate the classical feel the planet had to it.
He returned his attention to her when she proposed her question. His brow crinkled slightly and his smile faltered as he glanced at the menu then back to her earnings. "Uh..." he started, uncertainty evident. For a moment he was quiet, eyes shifting back and forth while he did some mental math. "You'll be a little short if you get both, but if you really want both I managed to finagle money from my quarter master for this trip. Meaning I can make it work."
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Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:55 pm
"Nope."
That was her simple response to his offer of charity. Her earnings were hers, and his money was his own As great as it would have been to get both foods, she resumed her debate over which would be the better buy for the outing. She bit at her lip slightly, mulling the options further.
Eventually, she seemed to come up with a decision. With a finger, she pointed to one of the items on the menu which he had said was fish. Did she really care which fish she was getting? No, not really. That was another decision she didn't really have the patience for.
"I'll get that one..." With that, she gathered up the currency she had spread out on the table and put it back in the bag. As she seemed to tidy up, she asked "What are you getting? I mean, I'm sure you've had your fair share of food out here... so it's not anything special I'd imagine... but any personal favorites for you?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 8:47 pm
He held his hands up in defeat, he had no interest in pushing the matter or trying to convince her to take him up on his offer. It wasn't often that he was given money to handle, but today had been an exception. He claimed he was meeting with a diplomat from another planet, which wasn't a complete lie. The quarter master had been skeptical at first but had eventually given in, if only because the young page had spent so many extra hours studying and working.
He wasn't so strict he wouldn't allow his trainees some sort of a break. An exception here and there wouldn't hurt.
He glanced her choice and nodded. "Good choice, it's pretty popular here," he told her. He shrugged pulling the menu from her an spinning it to face him. "Not sure," he responded taking a brief moment to assess the menu for his own choice. "I don't really have a favorite, sorta taught not to. Probably fish. It provides some of the best nutrients."
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Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2013 9:58 pm
"Can't get fish at home for cheap."
It was a fact and one she wasn't ashamed of admitting. Assuming that Crims had already picked something (since he did say something about fish), the blonde threw up a hand, wildly gesturing to whoever would be taking their order. If it weren't for her clothing, her mannerisms also seemed to stand out like that of a tourist. She wasn't familiar with the customs, but she was okay with that.
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Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 12:55 pm
"You never did tell me much about Iris," he told her picking up her menu and setting it neatly on top of his. "Only bits and pieces, like how you barter for everything." He chuckled when she began wildly waving her arm around to get the attention of a server. "You should tell me more about it sometime," he told her, curious as to what he might learn about the asteroid. After a minute he reached over to lower her arm.
"You can put your arm down, someone's coming." He cocked his head in the direction of the finely dressed woman making her way towards them. "Assuming you just want me to order right?" He asked, though he didn't wait for an answer, instead he went on to order for the two of them.
"Would you mind getting an order of herring and one of cod for us, please?" He requested offering the woman a polite smile. She returned it, nodded her head. "Of course, sir. Do you have a preference for a drink?" She asked, to which Crims shrugged slightly, "Just water for me, and for the lady...?"
(Nux is too lazy to make up names for these fish. Just sayin.)
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