Bakersfield
3 Bakemes, 333, 333
Slavina
Bakersfield, middle ring: between meeting Borya and meeting Krissy
Hustle and bustle of people in the main street abruptly ends where a little park begins. It's nestled between a tall stone building and a taller brick building - between them, small trees filter sunlight into a dappled shade over hardy, drought-tolerant bunchgrass. Wisteria vines crawl up and over the paths to make tunnels of pink-and-purple flowers.
Slavina goes alongside Daina with bouncy, spirited steps. She's wearing the same loose blue-green pants as yesterday, but she's got her shawl wrapped around her waist instead of her shoulders and she's woven fresh flowers and ferns into her hair and ornaments. As they walk, she occasionally does a twirl to take in the sights, and she punctuates her sentances with expansive gestures.
As they near the park, Slavina stops by a dumpling vendor's stand. She trades some flirtatious conversation for several enormous skewers of fried dumplings. "Here Daina. You better take some before I drop 'em."
Daina
Daina smiles a little as they walk through the city crowd. "Hmm oh ok" she accepts some to hold. "You seem to be having a pleasant day" she'd offer as she tries to read if Slavina is actually .. feeling more up beat or is she putting on a 'show' as she used to do
Slavina
Slavina bites one of the dumplings off the end of a skewer. She nods in response. Once she's done chewing, she says, "Definitely. A million times more pleasant than the day you guys showed up!"
Daina
Daina hmms softly and finds a nice spot with soft grass to sit on. "I'm kinda surprised everything is still so nice here.." she murmurs as she looks around "like.. I'd figure if the biggest guardian spirit took off things would go real bad... at least by now." She pauses "though I guess the rips are pretty bad.."
Slavina
"Yeah." Slavina eats a second dumpling while Daina talks. "The whole 'falling through a hole in the world never to be seen again' is kind of a bummer. But on the whole things aren't bad." She thinks a bit, then adds, "well, that and some of the unions are having some pretty intense disputes, but I don't know if that's any worse or not. Everyone says it is, but they always say that so who knows." She gives a gigantic, comical shrug.
Daina
Daina snorts softly as she holds the dumpling sticks for Slavina. "Suppose that sort of thing never seems pleasant so I guess it's easy to blow it out of proportion" she murmurs "I'm still wondering.. like why she left .. and .. if she'd have left if I hadn't stopped into town and thrown everything into crazy town..."
Slavina
Slavina sits down a couple feet from Daina, first spreading out her shawl to make a little picknick blanket for them. "You mean why specifically? Because I know why in a general sense." She holds her hand out for a dumpling stick once she's done adjusting the "blanket."
Daina
Handing over the stick she sits on the grass and her toes play with the strands. "hmmn I mean I'll take both all the information you've got.. I feel like maybe I really threw things out of whack here.." she murmurs quietly
Slavina
"I don't know that much," Slavina says, "Just that she left to protect Bakersfield from some kind of impending doom. Don't ask me what doom is impending though, I didn't get any signs about that." Slavina stretches out belly-down on the grass, propped up on her elbows.
Daina
Daina hmms a little.. "sounds like... it was a .. fairly ... needed thing, for her to .. get a body I mean.." she pauses " so it's not like I ran her off but maybe.. helped?" she says faintly hopefully
Slavina
"Probably!" Slavina stuffs the rest of her dumplings in her face. "Lets face it, you running her off would be about like a kitten running off a panther."(edited)
Daina
Daina gives a little chuckle "I mean yeah that's true I guess runnin' off was the wrong way to put it." She purses her lips "Hope she got a strong enough presence in that body then.. I'd have given more tribute if I'd have known it'd be important to her.."
Slavina
Slavina rolls onto her back and stretches, then tucks her hands behind her head. "I'm sure she'll make it work! Anyway, it's not like she couldn't ask the other gods to beef her up a little if she wanted, right?"
Daina
Daina smiles a bit "that's a good point" she pauses "hey did you see how cool my siblings are?" she smiles more surely "I mean I knew they'd be great cause.. Momma but.. aren't they just cute and neat and interesting and pretty?"
Slavina
Slavina bursts out in a fit of giggles at that. "Yeah, they're adorable. Not to mention bright - Vievka's a great student, and Nick is pretty darn smooth."
Daina
Daina smiles at that and nods her head some. "hey.. talkin' about students.. how do you feel about more wayfinding for me? I scared the piss out of everyone else"
Slavina
The giggles come back again full strength. "You scared the piss out of me! Moldy crackers... I was nearly obliterated and that was before the god even showed up!"
Daina
Daina winces "I mean .. but I did find the way to be more chill with it" holding up a half smoked joint. "more chill with most stuff actually" she snorts a little and then tucks the rolled paper and plant behind one ear.
Slavina
"Hey, I didn't say no." Slavina jabs her index finger at Daina and winks. "Heck, even if you're not chill and a god shows up - or five gods show up! - what's the worst that happens? So yeah, let's go for it!" Slavina hops up and makes like she's about to leave, then sits back down abruptly. "After we're done meeting Krissy though. First things first."
Daina
Daina smiles at that and then laughs when Slavina makes to rise. "Ha.. yeah let's have some order around here" she jests playfully as she offers the other stick of dumplings to Slavina. "Still though anything special you wanna try when we get a chance?""
Slavina
"Are you kidding?!" She hops up and starts pacing around as she talks, ticking each item off on her fingers. "I want to see if you can turn the spirits of things into other things without turning their bodies into other things... oh! what happens if we use you as a filter for experiences? If we pull some of the fabric of Between through Frankie, can we see like Ulfynja sees? If you pick up or alter something that's an omen, does that affect the outcome?"
She continues on for a little bit until she's used every finger at least twice, then she stops. "What about you? Anything in particular you want to learn?
Daina
Daina goes wide eyed. "... whoa.." she shakes her head. "I mean I just wanted to check out some.. vibes and stuff.. but like.. you've got some amazing ideas.. and I"m into them all" she smiles a bit and sits up, getting a little excited about it. Anything we can do to prep for this stuff now, I'm way into this"
Slavina
Slavina grins. "Awesome!" She sits down with a fwumph, facing Daina. It takes her hair and pants a moment to settle back down where gravity wants them. Slavina taps the nail of her index finger against her lips and gently narrows her eyes as she thinks. "Depends. What methods have you been using to go Between?"
Daina
Daina smiles a little bit and and admires for a moment the light on Slavina's hair before it settles. "Hmmn well I've been using this" She digs out the weed so the actual plant can be examined and also some of the mushroom. "One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small"
Slavina
"Oooh." Slavina inspects the mushroom, peering at it from every angle. "Okay. I definitely want to try some things with that, especially if we can get Frankie in on it."
She shakes her head a little to reset her thoughts. "For now, you can practice meditating. Have you been keeping up on identifying omens? That's another good thing to be really solid with. Oh!" She pulls out a scrap of paper and a crayon. "I'll give you a list of supplies. Things that we might need for dance powders, other drugs to try, offerings..."
She scribbles out the list and hands it to Daina. Some items are mundane (like abalone shell or cocoa powder), some... less so (such as ash from the bones of a wolf), and others are not easy to find (like diamond powder).
Daina
Daina looks at the list and her brows arch upwards "Oh man.. this should be a fun side quest" she murmurs as she rubs the back of her neck. "Feel like I'm in Word of Morecraft .. or whatever that veehdio game thing was called" she I did sort of want to try that even though it's an old world thing.." she notes
Slavina
"What were they?" Slavina asks. This is an old-world thing the Tsarbog never mentioned.
Daina
Daina rubs her neck "I don't know for sure it's like.. a set of pictures that you watch and move around on a glass and they can do .. 'quests' and 'side quests' like anything for the Tsarbog .. main quest material right.. but like say gathering items.. side quest" she hms "It's I think it had like.. titans to defeat to gather the items.... " she snorts "sounds so crazy but also like making the pictures move around sounds fun right?"
Slavina
Slavina thinks about this for a minute. "Like marionettes?"
Daina
Daina considers that "I -think- it was more like shadow puppets with with color?.. cause it's in the teevee and that's a box with glass on the front of it.."
Slavina
"Oh! I got this..." Slavina ties the corners of her shawl up on some tree branches to make a colorful 'screen,' and messes around with her hands until she gets the shadow to look exactly like Daina, with a Frankie-shadow looming behind her.
Daina
Daina gapes at the image "Holy shit" she peers closer. "Where'd you learn that? I mean I think Frankie could do it but I couldn't that's for sure"
Loral-02/21/2018
The little "Daina" wags a finger at the real Daina and says (in Daina's voice), "Silly! A performer can't tell the audience all of her tricks!" Slavina gives her a mischievious grin and waggles her eyebrows.
Daina
Daina laughs softly. "Ok now I'm a little creeped out" she admits as she shakes her head slightly "But I think .. that seems like it? Maybe you can show Aunt Ange one day, she knew all that stuff.. like.. the story telling of the old world she liked it a lot.
Slavina
Slavina drops the shadow puppet after making it bow, and takes her shawl down. "It's not hard. You just have to make it feel right... you know, hit the big beats and no one notices if the details are off." She looks at Daina and purses her lips. "Which one is Auntie Ange?"
Daina
Daina nods her head and then pauses "Oh right uh I think she's called .. right Fury that's it.. " She smiles a little
Slavina
"Shit. Maybe lets hold off on meeting her, huh?"
Daina
Daina shrugs "I mean if you want to but.. she's .. not that bad really, she does fantime and everyone enjoys it a bunch"
Slavina
Slavina props her elbows up on her knees. She glances at Daina's remaining skewer of dumplings. "What's fan time? And are you gonna eat that?"
Daina
Daina eats one dumpling but hands over the rest to Slavina "Oh it's.. like they all tell stories from way long ago.. comic books are a favorite topic.. " She smiles "there is one called The Princess Bride" that was pretty funny.
Slavina
Slavina gives a muffle mmph of understanding. "Like talking about going to see a favorite play?"
Daina
Daina nods her head "exactly and some of the adults would act out scenes they remembered or.. maybe didn't remember" she snickers a little bit. "It was always fun"
Slavina
Once she's finished the rest of the dumplings on that skewer, Slavina breaks it in half and tosses it in a nearby firepit. "Hey, did I apologize yet for snapping at you? Because I owe you an apology."
Daina
Daina waves her hand "it's fine.. we all have our days .. " she toys with the soft grass under her hand. "we got the job done that's the important bit"
Slavina
"Yeah, but it was still super rude. I mean, I won't promise not to do it again because I might, but... you know."
Daina
Daina hmms a bit "fair enough.. can't promise I'll take it so well all the time, I'll try but.. you know."
Slavina
Slavina chuckle-snorts. "Fair enough! Anything I can do to make it up to you? We didn't really start out on a good note."
Daina
Daina smiles to the chuckle and then her lips purse a little. "hmmmn I mean I can't think of anything.. just try and be cool going forward?" she suggests with a shrug.
Slavina
"Well duh." Slavina teases, and pokes Daina lightly in the shoulder. "But how about being cool plus giving yo u a cake? Or throwing you a dance party or something?"
Daina
Daina laughs a little and falls back with the poke, enjoying the cool grass on the back of her neck. "Oh hmn well dance parties are pretty fun, I could do that yeah" she smiles some "oh know any good musicians?"
Slavina
"Yeah, but the problem is they all know me. That's alright, I'm sure we can find someone good, Truong probably knows who to ask." She waves away the concern.
Daina
She arches a brow and then laughs "Oh got a bit of trouble with the local talent?" she snorts "been showing them up?"
Slavina
"You know it!" she chirps, and flops down next to Daina. "Nah, the real problem is they might mention me to my family, and I'm not exactly ready for that."
Daina
Daina hmms softly and nods her head a bit "gotcha gotcha.. Aaren will be singing anyway" she points out "oh I bet we could get her to sing up some nice drums .. imagine her face trying to do that though" giggling.
Slavina
Slavina grins at that. "I've been teaching the kids music. Kadir plays a mean bagpipes and Hao is killer on the spoons."
Daina
Daina smiles to that "Oh man I gotta get some lessons maybe like.. a guitar or like.. oh man you know those pipes that are like all in a row? Those speak to me.
Slavina
"If they're speaking, you need to check them for gremlins."
Daina
Daina blinks a few times and then snirks softly "son of a bitch" she's smirking as she rubs up a small flame on her joint and offers it over after toking. "you know what I mean" she smirks "like how can you be unhappy playing something so light and with such high flying notes?"
Slavina
Slavina takes a hit off the joint and hands it back. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I get that with poetry. Although it's definitely possible to be unhappy doing any art, if you do it enough. Eventually you just have a shitty day."
Daina
Daina accepts it back and then nods a little bit. "oh I mean yeah eventually but heck anything to increase the good right?" she waves the joint around. "Surprises can ruin us any day.. so we should always just draw in all the fun and love and good we can every day.."
Slavina
"Sure! Sounds good to me."
Daina
Daina has another small pull and makes to share again if desired. "anyway an instrument could be cool and then like if it's something small I could even put it into a dance.. oh like if it's a pan flute" remembering the name "I could put a string through one of the pipes and spin it with some big dance moves and like maybe even have two and see if I can spin them fast enough to make them whistle."
Daina stuffs her hands in her pockets and takes out some berries one at a time popping them in her mouth as they start down the street looking for a good place to pick up a form of transport to the library. "Yo.. guys.. like.... what if.. just say.. I grew us like.. a giant pea plant that can grow up and wind -over- the city and drop us -near- where we wanna go" Her step light as she suggests the faster route, a grin on her lips.(edited)
Slavina
"Hm....." Slavina walks beside Daina with a bounce in her step. "Sounds great, but what happens when it drops giant pea-pods on someone's head? Could be dangerous!"
Daina
Daina holds up a hand and tries to think of a quick fix for that.. nope. "hmmmn uhhhhmn lets saaay .. ok ok... it is a giant vine right... and then then the pods and peas are totally little and food sized...."
Slavina
"Sure!" Slavina grins. As they walk, she swings her gourd back and forth a bit aimlessly. "While you're at it, why not just have the pods grow wings and we can ride them there?"
Daina
Perks up "Oh oh I can I can be a swan and uh.. maybe carry a person?" she suggests and spreads her arms to flap them as she flashes a big smile and makes a swan like sound.
Slavina
Slavina slides off from their conversation with a light wave to chat with a vendor at a booth on the side of the street. She makes small talk for a few seconds before waving Daina over.
Daina
Daina slides back through the crowd a bit and ducks under an outstretched arm in a limbo like lean before coming up straight to face Slavina and the Vendor. "what can I do for ya?"
Slavina
"Check these out!" She points to some earings made from strings of irrdescent beetle shells. "Aren't they so pretty? Oh!" She picks up a hair clip with colorful ribbons hanging off it. "This would go great with your hair!"
Daina
Smirks and points accusingly at Slavina "you're trying to distract me.. but it's working.." admiring the jewelry and oh, well she does like ribbons. "oooh cute" checks to see what might match her purple gem bracelets
Slavina
Slavina's eyebrows go up and her mouth makes a little 'o' of surprise. "Dainina, no!" She presses a hand to her chest. "I'm not trying to distract you. I'm trying to decorate you!" She glances at the things Daina is going for and starts offering her a variety of items that might fit the bill.
Daina
Daina chuckles a little bit and smiles as she does pick a couple of ribbons, and possibly some jewelry for Jeri to get design ideas from or just to have .. gifts are nice.
Slavina
Slavina tries on a few things, chatting with the owner and customers while Daina browses. Instead of paying money for the earrings, she butters up the vendor with some complimentary conversation and trades him a dance instead.
As they elbow their way back into the crowd, she takes a look at the fancy things Daina got. "Great taste, Daina!"
Daina
Daina chuckles softly to that "Thanks, but hey, wow .. do you do that a lot.. I mean .. that wasn't just your natural charm right, ample as that may be?"(edited)
Slavina
"Do what?" Slavina hums as she fiddles the earring-hooks into her ears.
Daina
Daina rumples her own hair to adjust it around the new ribbons tied in it. "I mean .. look at all this stuff.. for a dance.. people aren't usually eager to trade that way in these parts are they? it's usually for the disks?"
Slavina
Slavina laughs at that. "Dainina, Dainina.... you remember all the nice things my family had, don't you? Everything we had, we got from performing. He should've paid me, but I gave him a bargain." She winks at Daina and gives her a cheeky grin.
Daina
Daina humms "I thought you got money and then bought things with said money, I should start bartering dances for .. I dunno.." searching the carts around them.... likely target hmmmmm
Slavina
"Yeah, same difference." She waves off the matter with one hand. "I just cut out the middleman! Anyways," Slavina does a theatrical spin, spreading her arms wide and letting her skirt and earrings flare out. "The important part isn't the dancing. People might pay you to dance, but what they really pay you for is a feeling."
Daina
Daina hummmms to that "what feeling did that vendor want in trade" what did Daina get from the dance?]]
Slavina
Hm. I'd say it was very energetic, and very personal - that is, Slavina was clearly focused on the vendor for the whole dance, even the parts where she wasn't facing him
"He wanted to feel interesting and desireable. It's pretty common." She keeps walking backwards as they talk so she's facing Daina.
Daina
Daina hums softly and questions "So how did you know that guy would be up for such a trade, or was it just a hey let's try this?"
Slavina
She shrugs. "You just kind of know, you know? Just gotta size up your audience as you warm up."
Daina
Daina considers that and as they walk sort of keeps an eye out for someone looking... sullen perhaps bored, not actually caring what the barter item was more so wanting to see if she can make this work for her. She's not the reader of audience Slavina is so it may or may not go well..
Slavina
Slavina spins back around to walk next to Daina. She puts one arm over the younger woman's shoulders, and uses the other to point out various people in the crowd. Who she narrates to Daina.
"That guy in the big hat? Wants to laugh. And that woman - the one in the tall sandals - she wants to be distracted for a while. Bad things at home, I'm guessing. Those kids want to feel like important adults..."
Daina
Daina hmmms softly and describes a dance with some pratfalls worked into and a rolling finale that ends her up right in front of the guy with the hat.