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 Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 12:07 pm
That morning, Lucrezia had woken up to discover she was down to her last set of clean clothes. Now how had that happened? She felt like she had been good about washing them, but nevertheless, she had somehow fallen behind. Not wanting to bother with the confusing machines that were meant to make washing "soooo much easier," she dutifully loaded her clothes into a satchel and retrieved a bucket of soapy water and a tin washboard from the bathroom, and then staggered out of the trailer, sloshing water down the steps and on her lower legs in the process.
Finally, all set up, she sat down and began the tedious process of scrubbing her rough linens. It had been offered to her that she find some more "modern" and "convenient" clothing, but Lucrezia liked her clothes from her home world. They reminded her of it and made everywhere else seem a little less strange.
She whistled as she worked, hoping to make time go a little faster.
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Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 12:58 pm
A lot had changed since the last time Scarlett left the security of her trailer to go outside. The air was sweet with the arrival of spring, even though it was fairly warm out; there were still patches of snow on the ground. Nonetheless, Scarlett traveled along a small footpath in a fur coat and with a cigarette resting between two fingers.
“Who are all these ******** people?” She grunted, putting on a plastic smile as an unknown group of clowns came into view, all tipping their ridiculously small hats as they passed.
“This is ludicrous…” No one joined the circus without her word; especially those middle aged men who had nothing better to do but wear makeup and pretend they were funny.
Scarlett continued on, puffing on her cigarette every so often with a look of disgust upon her face. She wasn't exactly enjoying the feeling of unfamiliarity as she passed strange trailers. Soon enough after passing a couple of bearded ladies, Scarlett noticed Lucrezia laboring away on the steps of an inhabited trailer.
“What the ******** are you doing? ” Scarlett was intrigued, she was always looking for someone to do ‘house-work’ for her. "Do you do this for a living?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 1:11 pm
"Laundry," replied Lucrezia, not looking up at first and chosing to ignore the vularism. "What's it look like I'm doing?" She tucked a loose strand of brown hair behind her ear and looked up at the other woman. Hmm, she didn't think they'd met, despite having seen her around.
"And no. I perform aerial silks for a living. Laundry is just something that has to be done. Though if you have a problem with it, I'm not sure I could get away with not doing it."
Lucrezia bit her lip and continued scrubbing the pants in her hands vigorously. "You're Scarlett, right?" she asked. "I'm Lucrezia. I don't think we've been introduced before."
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Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 2:35 pm
“Laundry, eh. That’s why I make other people do my dirty work. “ Scarlett responded bitterly, a bit taken back by Lucrezia’s own ‘sassy’ reply. She threw Lucrezia a smirk, tossing her cigarette to the ground and pressing it into the dirt with the point of her stiletto.
“Aerial silks, right. Is that where you climb up a ribbon and hang by your hair or something?”
“Damn, and I thought I was going to hire another maid today” She snapped her fingers as if she were disappointed
“Yep, that’s what people tend to call me. “ Scarlett nodded as she replenished her system with a fresh cigarette. “Now Lucrezia, I believe that’s correct.”
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Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 2:48 pm
"I like doing laundry," shrugged Lucrezia, and then realized that wasn't entirely true. "Well, I don't mind doing it. It's sort of relaxing."
"Aerial silks is where you climb up a ribbon and hang by any part of your body, and then do it upside-down," she corrected, "Forty feet in the air." Grinning viciously, she began wringing water out of the pants and draped them over the side of the bucket.
Noticing the cigarette, she gave a moment's pondering to why everyone seemed so in love with them. Not that she'd ever tried one or anything.
"Yeah, Lucrezia. With a Z," she nodded. Scarlett had an accent kind of like the diplomats who used to mangle her name, only it was somewhat better. "You speak french natively?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 3:13 pm
“Oh, than you wouldn’t mind doing my laundry? I really need someone to wash my delicates. They’re piling up because I can’t just have some greasy old man touch them.” Scarlett sighed; life was hard when no one could properly wash her slips, silk robes and corsets.
“I ‘guess’ that’s impressive. Can you hang by your ears? Maybe your teeth or tongue? OR even your liver?!” Lucrezia did say any part of the body.
“Right. Scarlett with two T’s if you please.” She rolled her eyes as she leisurely sucked on her cigarette. “Qui.” However, Scarlett hardly spoke French anymore. Occasionally when she wanted to call someone a ******** to his or her face, but other than that…
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Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 3:24 pm
"I'm afraid I ruin delicate fabrics," answered Lucrezia, feeling genuinely uncomfortable. Could we change the subject, please?
Then, hearing Scarlett's sugestions, she laughed. "Well, generally it's the arms, legs, and torso," she laughed, "I've never heard of anyone hanging by their liver, but stranger things have happened, I suppose." She tried to think of her best Silks trick, but honestly her trapeze was better.
"I can spin by a wrist and an ankle."
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Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 4:44 pm
“I see. Oh well, I’ll find some freshmeat to torture.” Scarlett grinned, that’s how she usually got people to do her crap. Flash a little leggy leggy, maybe some tears and viola a whole team assembled in less than an hour. ..the newcomers were so easy to manipulate.
“I was only trying to be an a**, I obviously know you can’t hang by your liver or lungs.
“ I would like to see you perform though.” She said with… what is that? A hint of sincerity?
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Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 4:50 pm
Something clicked inside Lucrezia's mind. Scarlett was going to go find "some freshmeat", which meant she didn't consider Lucrezia to be "freshmeat." She smiled, nodding. Even if she had only been at the cirque a few months, it was nice to not be considered a newcomer anymore.
"Is that fun? Torturing the newcomers?"
She knew she hadn't really been tortured as a newcomer, but she was sure she wouldn't have liked it very much.
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Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 5:34 pm
“Indeed it is. It’s what I do best. I find it easier to depend on other people. I mean they are always more than willing to help.” Scarlett shrugged; it was her way of life. No one really complained about her, even when she kicked someone in the family jewels while wearing stilettos.
“I guess I can’t really push you to do my laundry, what a shame.”
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Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 4:15 am
"Indeed," nodded Lucrezia, picking up the wash bucket and carrying it towards the clothesline that stretched from the trailer to the nearest tree. Looking back over her shoulder at Scarlett, she added, silently and wryly, "I can't see why."
As she began to wring and hang her clothes, she asked, "What exactly is it you do around here?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 6:26 pm
The question had been asked, what exactly did Scarlett do? She took some time to think, different responses floating in her mind like tiny balloons, but each thought popping when she realized. “I’m the jack of all trades, I’m the back bone of this hellhole.”
Good enough answer, well it was for Scarlett. On the stage, Scarlett wasn’t exactly a star, but just merely an assistant to the circus celebrities. Which of course she would never admit, considering that some newcomers were already earning their star status. Nonetheless, Scarlett did work behind the scenes, filing papers and dealing with Dahli in order to keep the circus going.
“I do some side jobs on the stage, but I prefer to stick behind the scenes.” Scarlett quickly propped her cigarette into her mouth, relieving some unknown anomaly.
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Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 7:57 pm
Lucrezia nodded and continued hanging up her wash. "Important job," she commented. "So, you're kind of in charge?"
Well, someone had to be. Otherwise there would be mass chaos and nothing would get done. Orders had to come from somewhere, after all.
"Not everyone's born a performer," Lucrezia added after thinking for a moment. She had been, but plenty of people didn't like audiences.
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Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 1:42 pm
Scarlett took a deep breath, her eyes darting towards some lone trailer as if it had all the answers she was looking for. She took a moment to think, should she lie for the hell of it? Or just simply tell her something of the truth. “Not really.” Scarlett bluntly stated.
“Don’t doubt me. I can perform…” She offensively blurted out. “I was star back in the day…But you know, the circus can really take a toll on you…"
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Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 11:21 am
Lucrezia nodded, looking down at the laundry. She knew that. She knew someone who, the more she thought about it, she wished had stopped performing before he had gotten as old as he had been,
"Sometimes you pay with your life," she mused and then quickly shut her mouth. She hadn't meant to say that out loud.
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