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 Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 9:44 pm
Wandering slowly through the gardens at the L.o.t.u.s. Headquarters, Lokiari wondered at how long it had been since she last saw people gathered here. It seemed as if no one really interacted anymore, and though she craved time spent off on her own, she also understood the need for human interaction. She had long been away from L.o.t.u.s. and was interested in meeting the new recruits - or any new co-workers that may have arrived during her absence. With that goal in mind, Lokiari had changed into a simple shirt and pants ensemble before heading out into the starlit garden.
Though the air was chilly with winter's embrace quickly falling onto the land, she walked without jacket or hat, having become accustomed to the chill air during an excursion through Alaska's Northern Slopes. Compared that weather, a light snow fall and crisp winter air were a mere nuisance. Stopping occasionally in her slow meandering to admire the way the snow created artistic tapestries of flowers and bushes left behind to winter's touch.
A small smile touched her lips, as her thoughts began to wander, her eyes moving to someplace far off. Continuing on her slow and easy path through the garden, she vaguely wondered how long it had been since the gardens had heard laughter or speech. Hoping that perhaps this evening, her walk would not be completed alone.
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Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:01 am
((actual name forthcoming, for the life of me I cant conjugated the words...roughly translates to Autumn >.<))
Mokoyi too had recently returned, but she from the warmer climates of Mexico and South America where she had been stationed to watch for revolution. She shivered in her buckskin and noted to herself it may be time to change from her summer attire to winter leggings.
She smiled as she found herself in the gardens, it had been a long time since she had been here and things had changed. She looked around, amusing herself by telling stories in her head and noting the new flower beds. Napiwa kii amo Okotoks (napi and the rock)
From the corner of her eye she noted another person making the rounds about the garden and hoped they wouldn't mind being interrupted. She hungered for conversation with someone who really knew what was going on. Slowly, but purposefully she approached. "Oki, good evening."
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Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 9:29 am
Surprised from her musings, Lokiari's only sign of it was the slight widening of her eyes as she turned her head to see who approached. A warm smile touching her lips as she saw it was another member of l.o.t.u.s., she turned to greet them more appropriately, with a small dip of her head. She was pleased to see that the grounds were not as empty as they had felt, and wondered if they might encounter further company in the gardens that night.
Extending her hand with a warm smile, Lokiari quietly said, "Good evening to you, as well. My name is Lokiari, what's yours?" Taking in the other's outfit, an eyebrow slowly arched in silent inquiry. Not many people wore buckskin come winter, but perhaps she had grown accustomed to that where she had been stationed. With that thought, the ever curious Lokiari was just that - curious about this other woman and where she had returned from. Questions milled about in her mind, but she stilled them as well as she could. Lokiari knew she had a tendency to ask too many questions, too fast, and was attempting to mend that part of her personality. Asking too many questions could easily scare someone off, after all.
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Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 10:15 am
She had surprised her, Mokoyi silently chided herself. Her command of the english language had gotten better, but it was still easier to read body language. The snow muffled the sound of her foot steps as she approached.
Mokoyi took the strangers hand into both of hers as a greeting, "It is nice to meet you Lokiari, I am named Mokoyi, but you can also call me Sara if Blackfoot is difficult for you" Her voice remained neutral but there was a twinkle of mischief in her black eyes. "Are you not cold?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 3:44 pm
Tilting her head as the other girl introduced herself, Lokiari gave a soft smile before shaking her head slightly in response to both the question and the statement. Testing the word out on her tongue, she responded, "Mokoyi is not too difficult and if that is what you prefer to be called - then that is what I will call you." She preferred to call people by their given names - or the ones they introduced themselves as. Trying to keep nicknames and given names straight often got too trying after you added many people to the list.
Smiling at the twinkle of mischief in the other girl's eyes, she gave a friendly wink before grinning. "Not at the moment, I just came from the North Slope in Alaska." Eying the buckskin the other girl was wearing, she arched an eyebrow, "And how about you - are you not at least chilly in that outfit?" Glancing around at the light dusting of snow on the flowers and the way their words puffed white in the air with each breath, she gave a small frown, if the other girl was cold...it might be best to move indoors. She'd rather not have people catch a cold on her account.
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Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 6:10 pm
Mokoyi grinned back, "I'm glad, I do not really like my Christian name. Them priests weren't very creative." She giggled, then paused afraid she may have offended.
"Alaska must be cold then," she responded looking at the snow covered grounds, the foot prints made pretty patterns, and attested to the fact that Garden was a popular meeting place. She hoped to meet others soon, Mokoyi had been rather isolated for entire career. "I was in Mexico, there is no snow there. I got back and was feeling homesick" She plucked at the buckskin dress, "It is time to put on leggings I think."
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Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 6:31 pm
"AND YOU ARES ON MAH BEDS!!!" Just like a trumpet at a mute convention, a familiar (and by now, quite infamous) Portuguese accent slapped across the ground.
Out of the bushes a mass of wool leaped out. It was a strange creature. The head seemed to be formed of a tea cozy while the torso was a sack of wool wound around a few times and tied up. The legs, under what may have been a cone of more thick wool, were about two feet in diameter due to layers of at least five stockings made of... Wool. The smell of moist soil, hay, and wet sheep permeated the air.
"Fora, fora, fora, fora," the voice said. It was amazing that even though there was no sign of a face, the voice was as clear (and as foghorn loud) as, well, a normal voice. "Tudo à sujeira!!!" From an anonymus fold of heavy shawl, a limb that looked remarkably like a thickly-gloved hand holding a shovel waved threateningly.
There was the sound of a deer passing through the bushes, and along with the clanking of metal wheels, Eponine followed the bulging monstroisity into the garden.
The robot girl shivered, not out of the cold, but at the sight of so many humans in one place! What was it with humans and the gardens anyways? She froze, her metal circuitry shooting off contrasting messages to run away ('weird' behavior, but it got her away from humans) or stay (...'Normal' behavior... But that meant staying here....) "Umm... Estrelas?" she peeped.
Angel peered over the edge of the wheelbarrow Eponine was wheelbarrowing and tossed her rabbity ears in annoyance. Why had the ride stopped?
"You twos off mah harvest!!!! Ah is a RANK ONE for you's informativation!" the wooly beast hollared again. Under the snow an occasional radish leaf peered out hopefully.
"Eeet already might too late!" the Portuguese voice hollared again. "Eef 'ou had not been so slow maybe we get here before frost come, Poninny! And maybe Ah not forget that we have ELEVEN patches of radishes!!!"
"Eep-" Eponine shrank back. "I-"
"No Ah is being sarcasm!"
"Oh...."
"SO WHY IS THERE PERSONS ON MAH LATE HARVEST?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 9:41 pm
Nodding with a small laugh, Lokiari readily agreed, "Indeed - they aren't." Though, in truth, Lokiari felt that not many people were truly that creative anymore. Many things that people were just figuring out, archeology indicated may have been done hundreds, if not thousands, of years past.
With a small shrug, she smiled at Mokoyi's comment. "It was cold during winter, yes, but not too bad during the summer." What she didn't add was that summer was short, just a couple of months if you went far enough North. The tundra seeing new growth for a few short weeks before it was covered by the first frost.
Grinning, Lokiari added with a twinkle in her own eyes, "Oh, I don't know. Wear that buckskin long enough in this weather, and you'll get used to it quickly enough."
Glancing round quickly in surprise as someone shouted out in a strong accent, Lokiari raised an eyebrow at her companion. Confusion showing on her face as the shouting was followed by a heavily dressed being and a girl who seemed to be following the wheelbarrow pushing woman almost unwillingly.
Tilting her head slightly at the curiosity of it all, she wondered if the shouting one was daft, or just not very well traveled. Giving a small wave in the woman's direction, Lokiari shrugged helplessly at her companion. A small twinkle of entertainment sparked in her eyes, as she half smiled and gave a flamboyant bow towards the shouting woman.
"My apologies, friends. We had not realized you were preparing to harvest this patch." Doing her best to keep her half smile from growing to an amused grin, she waved at the snow covered ground, "However, I'm afraid anything you might have planted may long since have been frozen over. Not much use in digging in frozen ground."
Continuing with a sly smile, she jokingly inquired, "And where might your patches be hidden, so that we can prevent ourselves from stepping on them?" She was amused by this girl who touted her rank so quickly, and by the fact that the girl didn't seem to note that most vegetables freeze and are ruined quickly after the first frost. Limited were the vegetables that would be tolerant to frost, and if the ground in these cold mountains was anything similar to that of Alaska, Lokiari knew that the lady before her would sooner break her shovel, than dig very much out of the ground in this weather. Frozen ground combined with permafrost was a frustrating combination.
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 8:03 am
Mokoyi tilted her head slightly at Lokiari's description of the North, it did not sound pleasant but she kept her opinions to herself. She was about to respond that she had wintered many years in buckskin, the warmer climates and new technologies had made her soft though, when the odd duo emerged.
The bundle of person made her want to laugh aloud but she managed to stifle it to a slight smile. Agriculture still seemed so silly to Mokoyi, who had grown up on the plains as part of a nomadic hunting tribe. Hunting took approximately 18 hours a week, while the introduction of crops extended the work week to 40 hours!
She knew how difficult it was to advance in rank with L.O.T.U.S. so she did not blame the girl for shouting it out right away, though it may have been more prudent to ask theirs first, again though, she remained silent. Moving away from the frozen produce she could no longer contain her giggles. "Oh my, I'm sorry, I should not laugh at your misfortune," she continued to giggle at the absurd sight.
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Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007 4:15 pm
Eponine, dressed in her thin, ragged rags, ducked her in in embaressment. The two were laughing- what had she done? Wait, was it not normal to do whatever they were doing? But then again, Estrelas was a human. She was walking here, so it must be normal..
Estrelas let loose a string of words (in Portuguese of course) that would have earned her a slap on the rump from her mother. "Back home we neva had this snow all everywhere!" she whined, but resolutely wielded the shovel as a pickaxe and succeeded in dislodged the radish along with a few chunks of frozen soil. The farmgirl was surprisingly strong, despite the fact that she had not counted on the climate being drastically different than that of Southern Portugal. "Ruined!" she muttered. "Ruined!"
Angel leapt out of the wheelbarrow, but to the rabbit's surprise, slid along a few feet, her claws skidding and scratching at patches of ice that had formed overnight. She snorted in alarm and spun in circles before she slid to a halt. When Eponine began to walk to help her, Angel flicked her ail arrogantly and began washing her ears. With Estrelas occupied with breaking in (and through) the fifth shovel this week and the rabbit busy washing her ears, Eponine was suddenly aware that conversation was a Normal thing... What was it with these humans, popping up like carrots everywhere?
"Umm.... ...Hi?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2007 11:45 pm
Chuckling at both the antics of the furious woman and the entertaining rabbit, Lokiari almost didn't realize that the girl in rags had spoken. Abruptly ending her laughter after noticing the other woman appeared to be trying to initiate a normal conversation, Lokiari tilted her head and tapped a finger against her chin. These two made an odd pair...an odd trio if she included the rabbit. Shrugging, she gave a warm smile to the timid one, "Hello there. My name is Lokiari. What might yours be?"
Stepping forward to extend a hand for a friendly handshake, her eyes twinkled with the laughter she still hadn't fully subsided, and her lips were pulled into a friendly smile. All together, it made her rather look as though she had a joke she wasn't sharing, or was amused by something no one else was. A look that could be rather annoying, all things considered.
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Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 5:50 pm
Mokoyis smiled warmly at the ragged girl, at least she seemed to more or less sane, though a bit uncomfortable. After Lokiari had introduced herself, Mokoyis stepped in, "I am called Mokoyis, or if you prefer Sara."
She then turned to the rabbit, "Oki, Nitanikoo Mokoyis" (hello, I am called Mokoyis)
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Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 6:13 pm
As Lokiari extended her hand and Mokoys introduced herself, Eponine flickered back, a few paces away, and a bit too fast for a normal 'human.' The hydraulics that made up her "muscles" pumped madly, sending her skittering back, then slipped on the ice and and landed spread-eagled out on the ice, whizzing a few inches by Angel. The only thoughts going through her head were "Oops," "Oh no," and "Oh oh no no."
Theatre people! They must be! What if they were aligned with the Manager? What if he had learned her location- yes, after the events in China, he must have seen a photo! Or something!
Her flight mechanisms immediately kicked in, and the robot sprang to her feet and began to sprint away, but her fast-moving feet skidded on another icy patch and slammed her back down. It was only this drawback that prevented her from acting like a total... ...Paranoid robot.
"Eponine, what 're you doing?" A pair of heavy boots (a man's boots- who was the unfortunate ninny to have forgotten to lock his door when Estrelas was amuck?), soled in scraps of sinew (from a cow. Now, where the cow came from is a different story), clomped over and hauled Eponine up by the armpits.
"She is-"
"Estrel-"
"From France."
Oh! For a moment I thought she was going to tell them my name- Eponine began to think.
"Her name is Epa-nin," Estrelas spouted, attempted a French accent but only succeeding in making it sound like she had a mouthful of fur.
Eponine's mouth opened and closed for a moment. "...Nice to meet you..." she mumbled, pulling her raggedy cap lower in an attempt to hide her face. Oh. No.
"And Ah'm Estrelas Angela Alvares!" Estrelas declared, lifting aside a large piece of old stuffed cotton covering her face. Slanted, almond-shaped eyes with a heady spark. Tanned, roughed face. Long equine nose and full, chapped lips. Yes, Estrelas would have been pretty if perhaps she did not smell like a flock of miserable sheep in the rain.
Angel stared at Mokoyis for a long moment. The woman smelled unfamiliar and strangely old somehow, at least to her rabbit sense. Even the bucksin, which the rabbit, having been raised on a farm, smelled different. Deeper, somehow. Gingerly, she wiggled her pink nose at the strange woman and took a few cautious hops forward.
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Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2007 12:03 pm
Tilting her head at the raggedly dressed woman, an amused smile extended across her lips. Though she found the woman's speed to be curious, she was too busy being entertained by her antics and the amusing set of falls the woman was taking, to say anything. Chuckling as the woman took her second spill, her eyebrow arching as the other woman stepped in to help her up. She was glad the frightened woman had a friend, though thoroughly entertained by how they were such polar opposites.
Muttering softly to herself, "I suppose that old saying is true, then," she gave a silly, flamboyant bow before a wry grin returned to her face. "A pleasure to meet you, Estrelas and Eponine." Tempted to make an attempt to ruffle Eponine's hair, Lokiari instead settled for a warm, friendly smile in her direction. The woman was far too skittish for silly, friendly gestures it seemed, making a mental note to herself to remember to stand a few feet back at the least when talking to Eponine. While the woman was entertaining when attempting to run away, it did make chatting rather difficult.
Tilting her head slightly, she pondered over how to ease into conversation. Estrelas was clearly the more talkative one, but she seemed to be excessively hyperactive - a trait that made it difficult for Lokiari to talk to her. Eponine, she decided, was likely the better conversationalist - when she wasn't trying to run away. Frowning momentarily, she finally merely asked, "So how have you girls been?"
Nodding slightly to herself, she thought that was a fairly decent, easy question. Didn't require any revelations to answer, and the responses could easily bring up topics to discuss. Or points of interest about the person.
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Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2007 11:00 pm
Barely as the words left Lokiari's mouth, Estrelas's was on the run again. It was a wonder her words came out so clearly, syllables clipped and r's rolled, when her lips were moving as fast as a shopaholic at a shoe sale.
"Oh Mista Sian does naught know how to make a proper Christmas! Last year here Ah got sick and threw up on the soup in the kitchen, and Ah didn't want to tell anybody so Ah just stirred it and then they served it.. And then- well, that not the point! This year Ah making a proper Christmas! And guess what happen when Ah go get chicken? THEY CHEAT ME!" Estrelas roared in fury, swinging the shovel back and forth blindly. "THEY THINK THEY CAN CHEAT AH BECAUSE AH A FARMPEOPLE? WELL GUESS WAT DID AH GIVE THEM A PIECE OF MY MIND!!!! TRYING TO CHEAT ME LIKE THAT!!!! IT SO DISGRACEFUL AH COMPLAINED TO MISTA SIAN! AND IN FACT IT WAS SOOO BAD THAT MISTA SIAN COVERED HIS FACE WITH HIS HANDS AND SAY 'OH ESTRELAS!!'" She took a few breaths to calm down. "Ah suppose that he so glad I reported it to him!!" she declared proudly.
Eponine wrung her hands as her eyes darted left and right, subconsciously mapping out escape routes. "...I've been fine," she mumbled, smiling shyly. "You know.... Like.... Ummm... Good."
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