Bakersfield's Middle Ring
12 Bakemes, 333
Slavina
Slavina threads her way through the crowd—there's a crowd even though they took a smaller alley—towards the neighborhood they're aiming for. There's a tailor there Slavina says is good, quick, and willing to do her a favor. Steam still rises off her from her morning ablutions, giving her form a strange glow in the morning light. She's dressed in one of Soheila's old smocks, belted in such a way as to highlight the harsh angles of her figure and colored only by the stains of powder on her gourds.
"What about you, Daina?" She asks after a lull in the conversation, words coming slowly. "Anything you need for the trip?"
Daina
Daina glances over "Hum... you mean from like the tailor? I'm thinking like... if it's like the place Momma went to tie the ribbons on the tree maybe I should get somethin' layered you know... something for when it's cold in the morning but maybe it gets warmer" She might now ramble a little about what the place Momma took her to was like and what food there was... oh man she's hungry etc.
Slavina
"That's a given. Always wear layers." Slavina shifts the bundle of fabric she's carrying to her other shoulder. "I meant more in general. And Janin, I can't remember, do you have boots? Or any good walking shoes?"
Fate
Janin glances down at his current sandals. "Uh... I have these." They're his only pair. Reliable, but well-worn. He doesn't offer much more than that, though. It's very easy to be at a loss when one's destination is a fabled land that is commonly believed to not actually exist.
Daina
Daina hmms "Nah I mean maybe pick up some seeds I was thinking could be useful to have on hand... those vines were pretty cool so maybe something like those. Other than that I think I'm good to go ... maybe get some sweets for the road..."
Slavina
Slavina pauses to untie her bundle, divide it in half, and hand one hemibundle each to Daina and Janin. Her arms were getting tired. As she does so, she says to Janin, "You don't need to think all the way to the end. Just to the next town. We'll get there in stages."
"Also you need shoes. Sandals are a bad idea."
Daina
Daina looks at the fabric she's handed "hmm what am I doing with this?" she questions curiously as she examines the bundle and a pack of buttons fall out, she catches them on the top of her foot and kicks them up to land back on the roll of fabric.
Slavina
"You're carrying it. My arms are tired." Her tone's not snarky, but it's also clear she doesn't quite understand what Daina's asking.
Daina
Daina gives a bit of a snirk and shrugs as she shoulders the burden and makes sure the buttons are safely secured. She hums softly and dances along beside Slavina and Janin as they walk.
Fate
Janin takes the bundle without a word, and begins scanning the crowd for shoe stands. "Thanks, but that only helps if helps if I know what the next town is going to be like." After a pause he adds, "Also... how do you shop for shoes?"
Slavina
Slavina thinks about that for a while as they walk. "The same way you shop for sandals?" She tries cautiously. It's tricky. Bakersfieldians don't shop the way Liudzi shop, so you never know.
Fate
Janin rubs his neck with a free hand. "Mom got me these. Before I ran away from home."
Slavina
"Oh."
After a few more minutes, Slavina finally decides to just try the Liudzi way. "What I do is try them on until I find something I like. Then get a good price for them."
Daina
Daina sings a 'that sounds right' sort of sound as she debates making a cape of the fabric she's carrying.
Fate
Janin considers for a moment, then asks, "How do you know if they're good quality, though?"
Slavina
"You......" She stalls out for a moment and focuses on the bricks beneath her feet. "...ask the seller? Daina, couldn't you just grow a sweets-vine or whatever?"
Daina
Daina considers that "um... maybe... or at least really sweet berries... " she falls silent as she tries to figure out how she might make berries that taste like cakes.
Fate
"Vinuzė," Janin begins, trying not to make his tone sound like he's saying the most obvious thing in the world, "they all will say that their wares are good quality."
Slavina
She gives him a blank stare for way too long before it clicks. Then she blinks and looks a little surprised at the oversight. It was so basic! "Oh. Right. But you only buy from the honest ones."
Fate
This time it's Janin's turn to stare at her. "Okay." Then he just sighs, continues scanning, and says, "I think I'll try talking to someone at the Cobblers' Union." He stops his scanning. "What else should I get?" He begins to try and wrack his memory for the stuff that his dad would pack for his trips to the outer farms...
Slavina
Slavina starts listing things off in the robotic tone of a chlovak customs agent - occasionally livened up when she remembers she should have tonal variation. The list is mostly basics: pants, hat, jewelry worth enough to buy a few nights accommodations, a large knife..... and so on. At some point the list either ends or Slavina loses momentum. Hard to say which.
Daina
Daina pipes up with rations suggestions.
Fate
Janin repeats her to make sure he's got it down, looking around for stands which might have some of those things in question. But after Slavina trails off, he wordlessly offers her a drink of water from his waterskin. Rather, it's less an offer and more a reflex, with the expectation that Slavina will drink.
Slavina
Slavina takes a few sips of water and hands the skin back. She swallows, looks at Daina like she's going to ask something, stops, then catches Janin's encouraging nod. "Um. Daina. Speaking of supplies and stuff. Can you grow a plant where you only have to eat one fruit a day?"
Daina
Daina hmms and looks up from the... skittle berries that look tasty but who's to say!? She smiles "I mean I can definitely try to make something like that for us. Don't want to let it get around though it'd probably wreck the economy ya know"
Slavina
"Oh." Slavina nods, accepting Daina's statement as a well-reasoned rejection of the idea. She turns left and heads up a set of worn brick steps decorated with glass tile mosaics of birds.
Fate
Janin follows, corking his waterskin. "Should I even get rations, then?"
Daina
Daina shrugs a bit "I mean for ya know variety or like what if I die on the way and my plants wither ... I mean I'm bringing rations"
Fate
His brow furrows. "You can die?" Incredulity fills his tone to the very brim.
Slavina
Slavina takes a few steps (past the stellar's Jays and the parrot) before she says, "Don't you eat sunlight?"
Daina
Daina hums "Oh well yeah I've got a true name ... so yeah I can totally die..." she shrugs some... "Cold Blood... so ... I guess I should avoid snowy places but um yeah sunlight but also ... normal food, it's enjoyable... and what if I can't do it anymore for some reason... better to have a snack and not need it"
Slavina
Slavina shakes her head at Daina. "I wish I could just eat sunlight. That sounds so much easier." She makes a thinking-face and says, "What's a true name?"
Daina
Daina takes a breath and then in it explains. "Well Mantien ... uh the Skull Witch ... yeah she gives people their true names and well it's the way ya die... so I didn't have one for a long time but then I did... It's not all it's cracked up to be." she notes with a faint wrinkle of her nose.
Slavina
"So..... are they... good for multiple uses?" Slavina slows her pace as they hit the second flight of stairs - this one decorated with lizards.
Fate
Janin listens to this conversation, quiet but alert to what's beginning to feel like venturing into territory that's out of his depth.
Daina
Daina purses her lips "huh... like for different people to have the same name ... orr for your name to be how you die more than once?" she questions
Slavina
Slavina spares a glance to Janin, to keep an eye on his distress/overwhelmedness levels with this conversation. "The second one."
Daina
Daina hmmms softly and ponders that a moment. "You know I'm not sure... but I hope it's only one time... I'd rather not freeze to death twice..."
Fate
"Why do you ask?" Janin prompts Slavina.
Slavina
She shrugs. "Just that she already did. So unless they're how you die twice then avoiding snow seems kind of pointless."
Fate
Janin's brows climb. He glances Daina's way, as if looking for some kind of confirmation there.
Daina
Daina Misses a step but gracefully turns and makes it seem like she meant to do it all along. "Whatcha mean, I'm still alive, check my heart beat" she attempts to make light of it but that was a weird thing to hear.
Slavina
Slavina looks back over her shoulder at Daina, giving her an odd look. "You were freezing in the snow until you were falling asleep, at which point you met a god who guards the passage between life and death. When you woke up, you were in a new world with a new family and a new life. Reincarnated, in effect." She pauses for a minute. "So it sure sounds like you died."
Daina
Daina blinks a couple of times... and says a long drawn out version of the Russian word for fuck. She huffs softly " how did I miss that" she grumbles... "man that sucked... I'm going to go with it only goes once... yay no more death for me" does a shimmy and then is a bit quiet as she considers that.
Fate
As the silence falls, heavy and thoughtful—perhaps a bit mournful?—it inexplicably weighs at Janin. "Sorry," he mumbles.
Slavina
Slavina turns her gaze back to the pavement as she considers this. "You think? Everyone else dies multiple times. Maybe the difference is you get to remember it."
Daina
Daina wrinkles her nose "Get to?" also ... she purses her lips... "eh... when do people die...I mean I've seen people die but it seemed like... ya know permanent?"
Slavina
She shrugs again. "Maybe. I wouldn't know. Did your uncle ever say?" She then explains for Janin's benefit, "The Drowned King, I mean."
Daina
Daina hmms softly as she ponders that "well... I guess they do but also ... they're not my Momma's daughter? I mean... I could totally be different right?" she is thoughtful but not conclusive.
Slavina
Slavina just shrugs. She ducks in through a doorway on a (ground level!) shop, smoothing her face and posture into something more approachable and warm. She moves straight past the dress forms displaying all manner of clothing, and goes straight to the tailor. After a moment of chit-chat she explains what they need, along with special instructions like that Janin's should be cut tight in the chest and Daina wants something easy to dance in. Once they've hashed out what's to be sewn, she returns to the conversation.
"So... Jansco. Have you ever thought about leaving the city before?"
Fate
Janin submits to the various measurements, clearly a little self-conscious, but lets Slavina take the reins on that one—save a few adjustments where it's important.
When it's all over, relief begins to settle in bit by bit, along a mild sense of unease. Then Slavina asks her question.
Janin ticks his brows upward briefly. "Yeah. A million times. Before I took the pilgrimage to La Fuente Limpieza, that is."
Slavina
"Obviously. I wasn't thinking about that." She shakes head at the oversight. "But since then?"
Fate
He shakes his head. "No reason to. Well, until now. This is home."
Daina
Daina is dancing a little slowly, thinking about things. Trying to decide if she's free of the Cold-Blood name now how she feels about that one way or t'other.
Slavina
Slavina goes quiet at that. She unobtrusively folds herself into the smallest bundle she can manage and lets Daina and Janin continue talking or not as they like.