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 Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2021 8:28 pm
Sulking
Neued | Prentice
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Elka wasn't sure what to make of her situation. She'd gotten what she'd wanted, away from the family that made her feel restrictive to the person she wanted to become. On the other hand....Simply put, she was now stranded in this strange land. Or stranded maybe wasn't the right word. Left behind.
At least they'd had the kindness to set her up somewhere so she didn't have to survive on the streets. And it wasn't bad living. Not as bad as it could be, anyway. Certainly not what she had been used to with her parents, but not awful, either. She got her meals. She had a comfortable place to live that was relatively quiet. And she had a job so she was able to buy her essentials. Still, if she could go back and see her past self, she'd have begged her never to leave Zena. There was really nothing worth it out here. Never really had been.
Elka flopped onto her bed, putting her hands over her face, pushing her palms into her eyes. Do not cry. No more crying. You've done little else but that ever since.
Removing her hands, she dropped them either sides of her. It had taken her a while to reach this point of no resistance. Many long weeks of refusing to do the work Entaria entrusted her to do. Always late, doing things halfway. Elka wasn't used to working at all and proved to be a real handful for the poor Shifter woman. Either her heart was ten times too big for her chest or she had been paid very well to take care of Elka. Not that it really mattered. She felt no shame for how she behaved nor any reason to make it up to the woman. She was upset. It didn't matter that she had put herself into this situation. She was upset and thus it was her right to act out on it.
Sighing, Elka sat up, smoothing out her skirts before rising and leaving her room. It was time to get back to work.
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Wordcount: 347
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Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2021 6:35 pm
Bargainwith Maia
Neued | Prentice----------------------------------------
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Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2022 6:38 pm
Class Affinity Solo
Neued | Prentice
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A bit of respite. That was what Elka needed right now. Enough of this endless running around this Shifter town, looking for the equally endless supplies this inn required to run. She never would have thought it would need this many things, this often. Growing up in a large house with its share of servants to keep the place tidy and in order, she had never thought about what was needed to keep it well stocked and running. Now she knew. And she also knew how much work it was to do the labor. It gave her a new appreciation for the working class.
Which now included her.
The young Ice woman sighed, splashing a bit of water in the lukewarm bath she was taking. There never seemed to be any hot water available for her.
The door opened, letting it a gust of air. Elka ducked her head, hiding up to her nose in the water to keep from shivering.
"You're still here, El?" laughed the young woman who had came in, shutting the door noisily behind her. Elka scowled at her, keeping her mouth below the surface of the water and not answering. She hated being called El. As if her name was all that long to begin with. To shorten it further was almost an insult. Her name was pretty as was.
The woman who entered merely tutted at the Ice in the tub, moving about in the room. Golden eyes watched the movement of the Shifter, skin as pale as the moon outside. No matter how long she was in Jauhar, she wasn't sure she'd ever get used to the sight of Shifters changing skin and eye color through the day.
As far as her co-workers went, Grett was the least obnoxious of the bunch. Not that she wasn't still obnoxious in her own way. Just the least of the bunch.
"You're missing the entertainment, you know," Grett said in a rather smug way, putting a pile of towels up on the shelf. Elka raised an eyebrow at her, not moving an inch out of the water. What did she care? There was always entertainment here. Very little of it was in her taste, but she listened to it from time to time as a change of pace. She couldn't spend her whole night reading in her room.
Grett looked over her shoulder at the young girl in the tub, saw she hadn't risen to the bait and made a sound with her mouth that made Elka glare at her. Get to the point, her eyes said. She hated when the other girls interrupted her bath. This was her time to reflect quietly and relax in peace.
Grett sighed, turning around to face Elka. "It's not another musician." Okay, so it was a poet. The inn had had plenty of them, too. What a boring past-time, listening to poems. "Oh, for the love of....It's a dancer! From Oba! Oh, I've never seen anything like it before. She's so graceful, everyone's eyes are on her." Oh, Pamalaya wouldn't like that. She glided about the main floor, purposely shaking her hips so all the males in the room looked at her. So gross and obnoxious.
But the idea there was a dancer out on the stage was enough to perk Elka's interest. Not that she showed any to Grett. She pretended to be disinterested, moving her golden eyes about the room until the Shifter woman huffed and left, disappointed that she couldn't spill the beans to Elka about the new entertainment.
Perfect. She would leave the bath and get dressed, than silently leave and watch the performance.
As quickly as she could move without making a mess, she cleared the tub of water, dressed, and put her hair up in a messy bun, hoping Grett hadn't told her about this hours after the first performance. It'd been so long since she'd seen anything different go on in this place. This must be what the lower class felt like all the time. Even a common bit of change was like a festival day.
Slipping out of the door, Elka leaned her back against the wall to watch the dancer. Almost instantly, she understood the fascination everyone in the inn felt.
The woman on the small stage was a master of her art. Her clothes were long and flowing, the skirt split down either side for easy moving. There were bells around her waist and on her wrists, so she jingled when she moved, drawing your attention back to her if it had wandered. Who would dare look away?
She was just as entranced as the rest of the room. The more she watched, the more Elka felt something stirring within her. She'd always been a child who demanded attention from everyone else. She always loved having all those eyes on her as she did some trick or skill or even just talked. She loved being the center of attention. The singers, the musicians, even the poets. They'd all had the attention of the crowd.
But not like this.
After the show was over, the dancer retreated to a small room behind the stage reserved for performers to prepare and relax in, Elka waited just enough time that she suspected the woman would be out of her stage clothes and knocked on the door, declaring herself as someone there to take her dirty clothes for cleaning.
She picked up the dirty clothes offered her and put them in her basket. Instead of leaving straight away, she stood there, feeling a bit dumbfounded for the first time in her short life. The dancer, sitting down in front of a mirror plaiting her hair, looked at her and raised an eyebrow, clearly wishing for her to leave. Elka sucked in a breath. She wouldn't go.
"I'm sorry," she said quickly, blushing a little. "It was just...That was amazing. You were amazing. Could you teach me to be so graceful?" Oops. She hadn't meant to say that. What she had seen still had her far too excited, it was difficult to get her head straight.
She regretted it even more when the Oban gave her an exasperated look, than turned back to her hair.
"I don't tutor. Sorry."
"Oh, um...No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked." Embarrassed, Elka turned to go and bury her face in her pillow. She was stopped at the door by the woman behind her speaking up. Elka withdrew her hand from the doorknob, but was too afraid to turn around.
"You already have a graceful bearing to you. I can tell you are nobly born." Picking up a brush, she started slowly brushing at the end of her plait and bangs. "I might not have the time to teach you, but I'm sure you could find someone who could. Or even teach yourself. I'm self-taught." Putting down the brush, she offered a smile in Elka's direction, that softened the embarrassment she had been feeling. "You never know what you could accomplish when you try, right?" Speech given, she turned back to the mirror to wipe the make-up off her face, clearly done with the conversation. Elka didn't mind that she was clearly being dismissed. Or that the woman noticed her breeding, but never asked about why she was working in an inn. Girls of higher class just didn't do this sort of labor. They didn't need to.
No. Elka was too thrilled with all the compliments to care about anything else. She had been given a goal to work towards.
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Wordcount: 1262
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Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2022 6:40 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2022 10:55 am
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Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2022 3:17 pm
Determinedwith Kayde
Neued | Prentice----------------------------------------
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2022 3:28 pm
Reconciliationwith Kayde
Somewhere in Jauhar | Rogue----------------------------------------
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Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2022 8:10 pm
The Futurewith Kayde
Somewhere in Jauhar | Rogue----------------------------------------
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Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2022 7:08 pm
Escape Planwith Kayde
Neued | Rogue----------------------------------------
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Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2022 9:15 pm
Pushing Buttons
Neued | Rogue
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Pamalaya found Elka quietly reading a poetic book on her bed shortly after Kayde had passed her on his way out of the inn. The Ice girl wasn't paying her any attention, though surely she heard her approach, the heels of her shoes making a loud clack on the wood of the floor.
"You two sure were in here a while."
Her golden eyes remaining on the book in her lap, Elka turned a page, trying to concentrate on the words. "It's really none of your business how long he stayed." She didn't sigh, didn't edge her voice with the annoyance she was feeling at the unnecessary interruption. Didn't want to give the Wind girl any sort of reaction that would only encourage and strengthen her belief that anything had happened behind that closed door. It wasn't too long ago that she would have done those things. Would have spat right back and maybe thrown the book at the other woman, causing a scene. She didn't feel like doing that right now. That might change in a few seconds if she insisted on bothering the Ice woman, though. There were still a lot of times that Elka had lost her patience very easily.
"Mm, I beg to differ, when you do something right under everyone's nose like that." Pamalaya was standing in the doorway, her shoulder resting on the doorframe. She sounded smug. Very smug.
"We didn't do anything," Elka nearly snapped, only controlling her voice at the very last second. So much for being calm under the scrutiny of the other woman. It was so difficult not to lash back out at Pamalaya, but Elka knew it would do no good. Only fuel the fire the Wind woman was secretly stoking up inside her. As soon as she got a break or was off work, whichever came first, she'd be off gossiping about what she thought had happened here to anyone who would listen. It wasn't against the rules for the girls to have a little fun when they weren't working. So Elka wouldn't get in trouble over it. But she still didn't like the thought of her private business being waved around to everyone in the city. Still, she couldn't help the smirk that spread across her face as she looked up at Pamalaya. "Oh. I get it. Jealous that I had some male attention? When was the last time you had that?" She tilted her head, an almost dangerous smile on her face. She couldn't do anything against the other woman, but it sure felt good to watch the anger seep into her face this time. Yes, it must have been quite a while indeed. Pamalaya looked like she really wanted to dive across the room at Elka.
"That is--"
"None of my business?" she finished, her grin widening. "No, it's really not, is it?" See how she liked it, Elka thought.
"You know, one of these days that mouth of yours is going to get you in serious trouble!" Pamalaya spat the thread out and spun on her heal so fast, her braid whipped around and hit the side of her head. Elka watched her leave with satisfaction, straightening her shoulders and sticking out her tongue at the retreating girl. Let her stew over that one for a bit. No doubt she'd return to have another verbal contest with Elka. She never could let anything go, especially when she'd felt slighted by someone else. And she considered Elka to be her inferior, making the comments by the Ice woman worse in comparison.
Rolling her eyes, Elka turned her head back down to her poetry book.
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Wordcount: 609
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Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2022 7:24 pm
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Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2022 8:38 am
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Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2022 9:29 am
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Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2022 6:53 pm
Lazy Dog Daywith Teletta
Neued | Rogue----------------------------------------
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Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2023 7:48 pm
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