Arrival, Part 2

Aaren

Aaren's impulse is to answer Daina's question, but she stops herself. After all, maybe Bozd— Slavina has something to say to it. In that spirit, Aaren avoids adressing the two or three other threads of conversation floating around.

Instead, she directs her attention to the world around her. The suddenly flourishing songs of the plants. Chauncy's chilled-out munching song (as he took to the newly springing up grass). The low, sullen notes of Frankie's shadow deepining the space below the cart.
And of course the healing, Janin's cyst, the cook's back.
Aaren stops her Slavina song from doing anything though, returning it to learning about Slavina until she has a chance to ask Slavina for clarifiacation about her boundaries.

Slavina

Slavina waits, until it's clear Aaren isn't going to say anything. Finally, she says to Daina, "I have no idea. I don't know what 'spot' you're in. All I know is that you're in town on some kind of errand, and... this." She taps the nail of her index finger against the glass. She looks between Aaren, Kelly, and Daina, eyebrows raised. "What's going on?"

Daina

Daina pauses a moment and then looks around "well .. Aaren received a letter.. and it gave us some instructions.. we've got to find a few important items at the behest of the Tsarbog, long may she reign." trying to be very quiet and not have an awkward face.

Aaren

Aaren digs into her crucny-soup-bread-egg-pepper-what-even-is-this-oh-sounds-like-cheese. Fortunetly, she is perfectly capable of eating and talking at the same time. Without having to resort to mouthfull-ease. (She is singing the spice down in her own soup. Just because they weren't home didn't mean she had to suffer.)
"Please have Frankie show her the letter." Aaren asks Daina. "I think that will be easiest for privacy."

Fate

The Tsarbog? Janin looks between the two ladies, the gentleman, and Slavina. And then tries to focus instead on eating. That, at least, was still simple and mundane.

Slavina

Slavina taps Janin on the shoulder to make sure he's paying attention. Being surrounded by gods could be pretty distracting. "Brace yourself, Janiaitas. Frankie is one of Ulfynja's wolves. He's friendly, but he can be unnerving."

Fate

"Oh." Somehow, this doesn't have the same impact as he thought it would. Like a boulder dropped in an abnormally still pool. "Okay."

Daina

Daina pauses and then invites. "Frankie please come out and say hallo.. bring the letter." she pauses "oh and hmm can you afford us some privacy around the letter.. maybe keep it in some shadow so only Slavina may read it." She tugs her shirt away from her chest a bit and the shadows deepen under the fabric till a darkness oozes down under the table and Frankie makes himself present. not sure if Frankie can offer secrecy or how he'd get the letter out of his tummy so I'll leave that to Fate to describe

Fate

Kelly dutifully pulls the cigarette-joint out from behind his ear and idly begins to light it.

Janin, still calm, pulls his feet up underneath him, to make room for the madness and death waiting there.

After forming, shadow swells over Frankie like liquid, gathering at his back. Or... perhaps it's a part of him, lurching. Either way, there are some heaving noises under the table for a moment, and then a dark snout delivers a folded-up paper to Slavina. Its seal is crumbled at the edges, but it's still recognizable as the Tsarbog's officially unofficial mark.

Aaren

Aaren, while Slavina is busy pursing the letter, looks at Janin. "Did you want to be less calm?" She asks, using the voice that's singing his calm song to sing the words. (The tune is slow and soft, with the deep beat of his heart slowed like the great drums that have fallen silent.) "I can aim for 'slightly freaked out' if you'd be more comfortable with that."

Fate

"Pardon?" Janin asks.

"Aaren's singing your calm song right now." Kelly blows some smoke out for Frankie. "If you don't want to be calm she can fix it."

Janin looks to Kelly. "She's—" Then looks to Aaren. "You're making me be calm?"

Aaren

Aaren resists rolling her eyes. "Yes." She sings, a moment later, remebering how overwhelmed he had sounded. She makes sure her tone doesn't betray a lick of her temporary irritation."I asked just a few minutes ago, before we sat. Would you like me to stop now?"

Slavina

"Thank you." Slavina accepts the paper from Frankie and examines it. Her eyes slide down the page, then back up, then down again. She folds the letter. A minute later, she hands the letter back to Frankie.

She interrupts the exchange between Aaren and Janin. This is important. "You are absolutely sure this came from Bozena?" Her voice is even and calm, the only indication of emotion that her words are just a little too calm, a little too measured.

Daina

Daina instructs Frankie to go lay by the fire and she puts some dried tobacco on it for him. "Yes... we're sure.. the closest compatriots of Bozena arrived not long after to give us reassurance about HomeTown. I cannot fathom those select few taking part in a falsehood.. -unless- it's to the benifit of all that they do.. and then we aught to as well don't you think?" She realizes it might be vague but hopes she's making enough sense for the others to follow along.

Slavina

"Okay. The letter I can see being a forgery, but the bogatyr knocking your door down is a bit hard to fake." She tucks hair back behid her ears. Then rests her elbows on the table and chin in her palms. Questions. There were so many questions. Which is most important?

Slavina frowns, just a touch. "Did the Bogatyr say who has taken his place?"

Aaren

"Not a thing." Aaren sings.

Slavina

Slavina's frown stays firmly in place at this news. "I see." She thinks for a few minutes. "Does Frankie like chille relleno?"

Daina

Diana gives a faint hum. "uh not sure" calls out to Frankie "do you want some chille?"

Fate

"I've got it already," Kelly sings as Daina pulls out the tobacco. He motions with his lit cig, tracing a lazy smoke design in the air, then offers it to Daina.

Frankie goes to lay by the fire, as instructed... which is the kitchen fire. He slips into the cook's shadow, then slips beneath the fire, parts of him flickering in and out of view with it. Then, when Daina asks her question, red eyes flutter like embers to regard her. Do you want me to have some? He can hardly been seen consistently, but the part that could be identified as his snout opens and closes at a regular, measured pace which doesn't at all match the rhythm of his words.

The cook freezes, her blood running cold. She looks to the entrance, then, when no one is there, she looks to the fellow in the corner, and then the group gathered at the table.

Janin, on the other hand, keeps eating. Because of course it talks. He keeps his feet tucked underneath him. Contemplates whether he wouldn't just ask for a puff from the man across from him if he weren't being made calm. (Maybe not. It might actually be something magical.)

Slavina

Slavina looks over at the cook, and her eyes widen a little with dismay. "Oh!" her hand goes to her mouth. "I am so sorry, I forgot how startling that can be. Don't worry, I was just showing Dainulya here how to throw your voice. I am SO sorry!"

Daina

She chuckles a little and glances around them to the various plants springing up. "I mean .. really?" she questions Slavina with a bit of a grin. She accepts the cigaret and takes the rest of her food over to the fire. She studies the warmth from the burning plant, the plant it'self. Taking a breath of it and exhailing it over the rest of the food, attempting to make a treat of sorts for Frankie before setting it down and laying the smoking cig next to the fire. "Offerings" she gives the lady a bow. "I hope you don't mind ma'am" Looking up and giving a smile.

Aaren

Since it is clear that Slavina has put the important conversation aside for the moment, Aaren turns back to Janin. "Would you like me to stop now?" She sings, again with his calm song. "Also, we need to talk about your ovaries."

Fate

The cook eyes the guests, then eases. "Well, alright then. Just... throw it over there or somethin'." She motions to the other end of the room.

Slavina

"Yes. Really." Slavina growls a perfect immitation of Frankie's dry, deep voice. Accent and all. "This is much better for scary stories than my voice, da?" Then she flashes a mischievious grin and a wink at the cook.

Daina

Daina gives a little quirk of the brow "Very effective" She pauses after straightening to regard the cook. She adjusts her shirt a bit and broaches the subject. "ma'am I've taken some liberties with your business. Some fast growing plants and extra special fertilizer.. I think you'll find it a touch more comfortable and sturdy now. May I show you what I've done so you can ensure that you're comfortable with it?" figuring they're acting like normies so she better make the sudden plants seem more.. normal.

Fate

Janin looks back to Aaren. "No, uh... I think I'd rather be calm." Then he rubs behind his ear idly, almost a nervous gesture except too at ease. "What about my ovaries?"

At Slavina's imitation, Kelly grins.

"Daaaamn," mutters the cook, suppressing a shiver. "You got some talent right there." It's a statement not really expecting a response, just below the table's conversation. And then she freezes again. "Uh... what?" she asks Daina.

Aaren

Aaren smiles. It's kind of a grim smile, but there's positive feeling behind it. Staying calm was probably a good idea. "They're going to take me about four days to remove, maybe a little more. I mean solid days. Can you stay around for that long?"

Fate

Janin glances to the cook, then to Daina. But there's a question waiting on him. "Four days?" After the initial incredulity, he actually answers. "Yeah, I think so." He lowers his chin a little. "This means I won't have a period anymore, right?"

Daina

Daina clears her throat. "well you see, I noticed your door was a bit shakey so I've got a vine supporting it, and there were some places that had too much moisture for their own good, so I've added a bit of a flowering moss to soak up the water, should be very low maintentance." She assures. "I've started some plants that provide light but I can halt that and take them along with me if you'd rather they not remain" she offers. She gestures to the various plants as she explains them and seems .. happily excited about the improvements. "I do appologize for not asking first, I just .. well I wanted to help a little.. please forgive my assumption"

Aaren

Aaren nods brightly. "Yep." She sings, still using Janin's calm song. "And no more pain. At least, I hope not. I've ran into some weird effects with phantom pains. Hopefully won't be a problem." She pauses, for half an instant, "Also, no babies. Ever. And your moods will be at least a little different." She pauses again, "Sound okay to you?"

Fate

The cook looks over to the places Daina indicated. Blood rushes from her face. Her eyes go wide. Her jaw shifts, mouth and tongue searching for words. They come, eventually. "H-how... you just..." Her spoon flicks between the door and the table. "How did... ?"

Kelly eyes the cook, assessing. The tension has since seeped out of his shoulders a little.

All this—the conversation with the cook—going on over Janin's head... it really didn't matter. It was out of his control. A surprisingly comforting thought. He focuses instead on answering Aaren's question. "Yeah. More than okay." He looks down to his chest. Places his hands over it. "Can you get rid of these, too?"

Aaren

Aaren's face lights up. "Sure! We can just make you male, if you want. That's going to take longer though." She stops for a moment, her song transitioning to deep thought. "Probably four or five weeks. Plus I'd want to keep you under obseravtion for at least another month after that, and preferably longer. We've only done a sex-change on a goat before."

Slavina

Slavina picks at her chillis a little more, and raises her eyebrows at Aaren. "The goat worked?" She's not exactly surprised, but it's still a little surprising.

Aaren

Aaren nods. "Oh yeah. She's still producing milk!"

Slavina

Slavina looks meaningfully at the goat... thing... outside. "Ah... what else did you do to it?"

Aaren

"Different goat!"

Daina

Daina rubs the back of her neck "oh well I've got a green thumb and hand and ah.. everything.. besides this special fertilizer.. I mean if you don't like the changes I'll undo them... er .. uproot them.. " her tone reluctant at this point as she doesn't want to stop the growth, or the improvements to the diner.

Slavina

Slavina grunts acknowledgement. Goats are multitude. She thinks about other things for a minute. Then she asks in a very off-handed way, "Could you make someone barren without all those other side effects you were talking about?"

Fate

This is revolutionary. Janin knows this is revolutionary. Most of his life not feeling quite right and now, if he chooses it, it could be over in four weeks.

Well, assuming it works. But it worked already on a goat...

It's unnerving how little all that seems to move him right now.

And then Slavina speaks. Something dark draws up from under the surface, but doesn't even make it swell. So he waits before offering his own answer.

The cook stares at Daina, unable to process.

Kelly's eyes flick around the cook, then around the kitchen. "Your food's burning."

"Ah shit!" The cook snaps to attention and moves to the cookfire to remedy that, cussing to herself.

Aaren

Aaren turns to Slavina, since it's clear Janin is waiting for her. "Sure. Did you want me to do that for you? Wait, you want periods and pain?"

Daina

Daina grimaces softly and glances to Kelly "heh thanks man" walks over to the kitchen. "ah can I help ma'am? I feel bad for distracting you so much.." she focuses and any fire issues are dampened hopefully slow enough to go unnoticed by the cook.

Slavina

She hangs there for a moment, as if caught between two tugging wires. "Yes. Please." Her voice is thick as mud. She deliberately settles back in her chair and keeps herself relaxed. "I don't care about pain. Periods are reassuring, but I suppose I don't care much about losing them. But no mood changes."

Fate

"Ah, no, no thank you," says the cook absently, concentrating hard on saving her cooking.

Aaren

Aaren's sixth voice has been singing Slavina's new song, learning about it but doing nothing. It shifts, sliding easily into singing the song of Slavina's eggs. She has well under 100 left. It's only going to take a few minutes to simply make them all incapeable of nesting on the inside of her womb. "Sure thing." Aaren says, not questioning the thickness in Slavina's voice. After all, it wouldn't be that hard to fix if she changed her mind.
Aaren turned back to Janin.

Daina

Daina nods and retreats back to the table. Looking for something to drink as she glances to the others. "So are we doing some work?" offering a faint smile, that she hopes is reassuring.

Fate

That something from before, bulging under the surface but not breaking the water. He lets that settle somewhere in the back of his skull, lets it slide into place among the other things Slavina has shared with him.

Once regarded, Janin considers a little more deeply. Four or five weeks was a long time. That was a lot of re-booking, or finding replacements. But this was the rest of his life.

And another thing. "What about your... uh..." What was an appropriate word? "Thing?" Not helpful. "That you have to do."

Slavina

"Thank you, Renina." Slavina looks between Daina, Aaren, and Janaitas. "We won't get any more work done here and now. Jansco, you'll need to rebook at least four days, right?" Presumably longer, but the four days seemed certian by this point. "I'll ask Truong if you can stay in my room while Aaren works on you."

Aaren

"I'm going to approch the changes in different ways." Aaren sings. "So I need to know which one we're doing before we start." She wrinkles her nose. "Especially because if you let me remove your ovaries and then want a penis later I'll have to grow testicals back on instead of just changing them. Which would be interesting, but takes so much more energy on your part."
She nods again, and responds to Janin's question about their 'thing'. "You can just follow us around until we're done. If you want."

Daina

Daina looks at the grouping and sets her chin on her hand as they decide the time table. "not like we can't travel and do the things after all.." she mentions as she digs around in her pouch and finds a rolled smoke, that isn't tobacco. Lighting it she takes a draw and then offers it around. Her posture starting to relax from her nervousness trying to make things square with the cook.

Fate

Janin considers. This is a huge thing to decide right now. And, predictably by this point, it just didn't feel like a big deal. "Yeah. Okay. Sure. I'll stick around for four weeks."

Kelly hesitates, taut, then passes on the joint with a wave of his hand.

Aaren

Aaren stops. She looks at Janin. "You don't actually have to decide right now. You just have to decide before we leave." She cocks her head. "How about you think about it when I'm not around. And it'll be more then four weeks. I said at least one more month for observation, minimum."

Fate

"Oh. Right." Janin rubs a hand over his eyes, as if that'll help him think more clearly, feel more appropriately. But what was appropriate, anyway? "Okay."

Slavina

Slavina looks over at Janin. "Thank you for coming. Do you want to go home now? I'm okay."

Daina

Diana gives a shrug and a smile to Kelly and questions quiet like. "Everything quiet enough for you?" holding out the J to the rest of the party as well, it's only polite.

Aaren

Aaren politely waves away the joint. She doesn't want to slip Between right now.

Fate

At Slavina's question, Janin keeps his hand shaded over his eyes. Marches through various mental steps. Then says, "Yes. But I don't think that's a good idea."

"Nope," says Kelly, to Daina's question. It's matter of fact, sung mild and flat and without any oomph to it. Then he adds, "I'm not looking forward to going outside again."

Slavina

Slavina thinks about that, and decides this is not the best place for asking why not. "Then are you coming home with me? Because I'm not planning to spend the rest of my life in a diner. No matter how good the food is."

Fate

"Yeah." Janin peers under the table, then unfolds his feet from beneath him. He looks between them, prepped to go whenever they are.

Daina

Diana gives Kelly a look of compassion and wonders if some sort of... earplugs could be made. She'd talk to him and Aaren about it later she figures as she rises and gives a look around to make sure her plants aren't going to grow to big and eat up the place or something.

Slavina

Slavina stands, rolls her shoulders. "Alright. Let's go, then."

Aaren

Aaren pulls out her money and finds a handful of appropriate looking coins, which she leaves on the table. Then she shoves the rest of her food in her mouth and stands up.
To Kelly she sings, "I hid in the cart for my first week. It was way less awful that way."
Because she doesn't need Janin anymore, she eases up a little on his calm. Just a little.

Fate

Kelly's mouth twists a little, then settles. When he sings, it's matter of fact again. "You might need me in that time, though." There was a lot that was strange and alarming. And he was brought along for a reason.

As Janin stands, the calm begins to pull back and the stress begins to leak in. He rubs behind his ear a little more frenetically, and then scratches at his head.

Daina

Daina smiles a sort of turn of her lips and nods a bit to Kelly, he had a point after all. She walks over to Janin and smiles a bit as she offers her arm. "Hey deep breaths.. it's all ok for now, save the stress for if we need it right?" she suggests as she exhails smoke away from the others and puts the spliff in a safe place, talking the fire out of it for now. She double checks on the plants giving them some long term instructions and assuring herself they won't go all 'potato'.

Slavina

"Save the stress for if we need it?" Slavina pauses in donning her cloak to look back at Daina through the neck hole. "Really, Daina?" Her voice gets muffled as she pulls the cloak over her face. "She's right, Jansco. Bottling things up works great. There are no flaws with this plan."

Aaren

Aaren blinks. That is the rudest anyone has ever been to Daina. Ever. She looks to her little sister.

Fate

Kelly's body goes tight. He stares right at Slavina.

Daina

Daina starts a little at the tone and content. Her brow furrowing a little as she shakes her head. "I didn't mean that just wanted to help you calm down.. if you wanna wig out you do your thing, man" Giving an apologetic smile to Jan. "no harm done I hope" offering her hand.

Slavina

Slavina meets Kelly's stare, then abruptly looks at the ground. "Sorry. I.... Sorry." She pulls her blanket closer and walks out the door. Then stops, because Janin is stil there and she can't just leave without him.

Aaren

Aaren's face softens. Normally, this would be an appropriate time to take someone for a walk— dad style. This wasn't exactly the ideal setting. The previous conversation with Kelly thorughly de-railed, Aaren sings, "Do we want to talk about it now, or wait until we stop for the evening?" She sings it with Ash's Talking-to-People song.

Fate

More stress leaks through. Janin shakes Daina's hand, but is too distracted by, well, everything, to really offer much meaning to the handshake or thought to his response. "Yeah... uh... thanks."

Daina

Diana presses her lips together in a sort of smile and lets Janin go ahead in front of her. Rubbing the back of her neck and heading out with the rest of the group.

Slavina

Slavina is silent, walking a bit ahead of the group. She doesn't respond, since there was enough wiggle room in "we" to pretend it didn't include her.

Aaren

Aaren raises her eyebrows, but decides that's enough of an answer for her. Apparently, un-Ludzi style communication rules only applied when Slavina wanted them too. Aaren eases her voices back into traveling mode. A voice to help keep Kelly calm, when he wants, a voice to keep Janin calm, a voice to heal his cysts. Three voices for the crowds, to keep them focused elsewhere, and one voice for Chauncy. Because Bakersfield was hard for goabitts too.

They step back out into the wall of noise and bustle and color that is the street, and get on the highway for Trong's.