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 Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 9:40 pm
Asiya was at a bit of a loss.
It was one thing to want to talk to Sunny -- the peculiar individual who seemed to come from the other Ashdown. It was another thing entirely, however, to know how to find her. The artist had no idea, and thus sat on the futon in her apartment with a displeased look on her face. Next to her on the futon, which she kept pulled into a couch during the day, sat two cartons of kretek cigarettes.
While Asiya herself didn't partake in smoking, she was aware that Sunny liked them. They were popular in Indonesia, a primarily Muslim country, which Asiya found amusing. The cigarettes would have cost her a pretty penny, had she bought them online. Luckily for her, however, she had a friend or two in Indonesia, having traveled there on vacations with her family in her youth. This reduced the cost by quite a bit and enabled the starving artist to procure not one, but two cartons full of multiple packs of the cigarettes. She hoped that Sunny would be pleased.
"How do you think I'll get in touch with her," Asiya asked out loud, directing her question to a large bird cage sitting near the window of her apartment. Inside the cage sat Guava, Asiya's turquoise green cheek conure. The bird ruffled his feathers when asked a question, but obviously didn't respond. He just tilted his head at her, and she threw her hands up in defeat. "You don't have to tell me -- I know it's going to be difficult."
Pushing herself up, she then walked over at the birdcage and gazed inside. "...Maybe if I say her name three times in the bathroom mirror at midnight, she'll show up?" A pause, followed by Guava landing at the bottom of his cage to nom on some seeds.
"Hey -- it's worth a shot!"
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 6:05 am
"Or you could just, I dunno, call me," said Sunny. "I got a phone." Okay, so her phone was just her hand held up to her face, but it worked alright. Evidence: The fact that she was now in Asiya's apartment, sitting on her couch. "What d'you want?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 10:53 am
Well, that was easier than expected.
She should have figured that Sunny would show up. She was the mysterious sort.
"I got you the cigarettes you like," she started off by saying, motioning to the two cartons that were next to Sunny on the couch. She then flashed her a sheepish grin, and then proceeded to flop down in a chair next to Guava's cage. "You told us if we got you them, you'd never tell us a lie."
Now she was, of course, recollecting on the recent trip to other Ashdown. It was an odd turn of events, but Asiya wasn't really bothered by it anymore. The foot had been enough to scare her, but what happened after didn't seem as bad. Not really. "I also tried to make a deal with you. I said I'd give you anything, if you answered any questions I had then, or in the future." She then paused, only to add, "Though, you said something about three questions, so I reckon I only get that many. Is that more or less the gist of it?"
Placing her hands neatly in her lap, Asiya waited to see what Sunny said. Two cartons was definitely worth more than three questions, but if that's all she was going to get, well, then them were the breaks.
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Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2016 4:08 pm
Sunny glanced over to the cartons of kreteks on instinct, but then looked back to Asiya with a shake of her head. "No, that's the deal I made with Finn," she said. "He gets me cigarettes, forever, whenever he wants questions answered, and I don't lie to him. You'd get a different deal. So..." She arched an eyebrow, leaning back into the couch. "What d'you want for two cartons of kreteks?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2016 8:52 pm
"Ohhh -- I thought the cigarettes and honesty were for everyone. You can just have the two cartons, then. I don't need anything fancy for them." She then thought back to the deal she offered in the other Ashdown, and decided to offer it again. "I offered you anything, if you answered any question I had now, or in the future." It was a foolish move on her part, offering a strange, otherworldly entity anything they wanted. But what she was asking, in Asiya's mind, required something big.
Go big or go home.
"If that's not a decent enough deal, then I'm happy enough to talk it over with you. There's can always be some sort of compromise."
More than anything, Asiya wanted answers. How were some individuals chosen to go to other Ashdown? Why were some kidnapped and not allowed to come back? Who was the thing that spoke to them? What did the strange symbol on the papers mean? All of this and more ran through her head, and it almost made it spin, to be frank. Other Ashdown was just...strange and peculiar, and the more she could make sense of things, the better she would feel.
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Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2016 9:17 pm
Sunny tipped her head forward and fixed Asiya with one violet eye, her long dark hair falling over the other. It looked salt-crusted and tousled, visible knots pulling her curls into an odd shape. "Yeah, so..." She reached for the cigarettes and pulled open one of the cartons, excised a pack and popped it open: "Smoke a cigarette with me," she said. "And I'll give you three questions that I'll answer honestly." Mriae I do know what Sunny's asking and Asiya can obviously negotiate! >: it just seemed like something Sunny would do.
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Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2016 9:40 pm
She wanted to oblige her in her request. It was a simple one, and would be no problem for most people.
But, alas, Asiya was not most people, nor was it simple for her.
"I'm afraid I have to decline on smoking," she told her, moving to sit down next to her on the couch. "Smoking tobacco is haram -- not allowed -- in my spiritual beliefs." She then paused, thinking back to the many times she saw hookah prevalent in her life. It was quite common in Morocco, and hookah bars were becoming quite popular in the States as well. "Some say hookah is makruh -- something you're encouraged to avoid; my grandpa smoked hookah every day, but...I'd abstain from that, too."
Thinking back on her grandfather, Asiya pulled a face. As much as she was eager to get these questions answered, she wasn't going to go that far as to do something bad in regard to her spirituality. That was the most important thing to her. "Is there anything else I can do?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2016 9:59 pm
"I don't think you get what negotiation is," said Sunny. "I make an offer, than you make an offer. And then we keep doing that until we agree." She arched an eyebrow. "So you know what I'm offering. What're you offering?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2016 10:13 pm
Asiya frowned and looked around at her simple apartment.
She couldn't offer Sunny money; she probably had little use of it. And Asiya didn't have much to begin with. She was lucky to make her rent on time, let alone have enough for art supplies and food. The art supplies always came before food.
She couldn't take up the offer to smoke the cigarettes. It was against her beliefs. She didn't have much in the way of belongings, except for her pet bird. She could do art for her, but did Sunny really need art? She didn't seem like the type to decorate.
"I could offer you Guava, but he's kind of my only companion here." she motioned to the conure in the cage when she said this. "Or I could offer you art, but I don't know what need you have of it..." A heavy sigh escaped her, and Asiya did something surprising: she pulled down her headscarf and ran a hand through long, dark brown hair. "I'm the worst..." Clearly, negotiations weren't her forte.
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Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2016 10:14 pm
Sunny leaned forward on her elbows. "What kind of art? And what would you want for it?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2016 10:22 pm
What kind of art?
There were so many different kinds!
More than she could name, in all honesty.
"I do various kinds: painting, drawing, sculpting. There's digital art. Then there's crafts like jewelry, glass -- all sorts of things. I'm not as familiar with the latter, but yeah. Street art like graffiti, and so on." She then paused and thought about what she wanted. "As for what I want, I just want answers to the questions I have, in all honesty. Or knowledge on what other Ashdown is all about."
Knowledge was simple enough, wasn't it? It certainly didn't seem like she was asking for much, from her point of view, anyway.
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Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2016 6:10 am
Sunny groaned. "I'm not going to promise infinite answers to infinite questions! You get three." Why did this happen so often? Human schools needed to have a class on bartering, jeez. "You give me your favorite piece of work, and I'll answer three questions."
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Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2016 3:39 pm
"Fair enough," Asiya commented without argument. In order to fulfill Sunny's question, Asiya then pushed herself up off of the couch and then disappeared into the bedroom of her apartment. A minute or two passed, and then she returned with a large framed picture.
The picture itself was facing Asiya when she brought it out, but once she was in front of Sunny, the young woman turned it around to show her. The picture was a beautiful floral pattern that was done in varying shades of purple. Arabic calligraphy was in the middle of the painting, which had been done with gold paint. It was an intricate piece -- one of Asiya's first she had made since moving out, and one she was extremely proud of.
"It says the shahada - the Islamic testimony of faith." She knew that meant nothing to Sunny, but frankly, she didn't care. She wanted to explain the significance behind the artwork. "I was hoping to give this to my mother as a gift. But...well, she won't accept it." An awkward and saddened pause followed, and Asiya frowned some before adding quickly, "This is my favorite piece, though. You can have it."
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Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2016 9:42 pm
Sunny accepted the framed image and set it against her knees. "It's lovely," she said. "So, your questions?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2016 9:51 pm
"How is it determined who gets to see or go to other Ashdown?" She then paused and went on to add her other questions, "Why are those people chosen? And what is the purpose of Other Ashdown?"
The answers to these questions probably weren't going to make much sense. Sunny didn't make much sense, herself. But she had to ask, if even to attempt to find out. You couldn't learn things without asking about them, after all.
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