Who: Sophie, Ruby When: August 8th Where: The Cafeteria What: Sophie and Ruby have a chat about how different they are. Sophie agrees to go dancing and help make Gin Charlie’s life hell. Open or Closed: Closed Observable: Yes
*
Normally, Ruby was a nocturnal woman. Nighttime loved her very much and that was when all the interesting shit went down anyway. Well, except for the betting pools. Those went down at the normal hours, so folks could watch the matches real time. Ruby didn’t dabble in that game, though. There were more interesting pursuits to be had.
And more interesting people.
Today was a little different. She’d decided to wander out in the wee early morning, welding goggles snapped on tight. She’d gotten ahold of some nice comfy jeans and a nice tight tank-top which, unfortunately, had seen better days. Alas, it was the peril of buying second hand. Or, you know, cheating it out of somebody second-hand.
Ruby had quite a little business going with the nightly poker games.
See Exhibit A: the tank-top.
See also: Exhibit B. The very nice, shiny choker fashioned out of bird bones and gold beads. Ruby was doing pretty damn well for herself, in her opinion.
There was a way to do it. A way to get things done. Ruby dressed herself up all nice, showing off all her tattoos, and stalked out into the cafeteria to go meet some new people.
Fresh meat, mhmm. Somebody there would be worth knowing.
Sophie wasn’t technically supposed to clean the cafeteria. She didn’t have to, but when she’d come in, someone had left an obscenely sticky pile of red something in between two tables. Instead of waiting for a drone to show up, Sophie had immediately decided the best option was to attack this spill head on, but it wasn’t working out as well as she’d thought it would.
Dressed in a simply, high necked grey dress, Sophie bent over her stain and scowled at it. Her little black shoes were still clean, but her hair seemed to be escaping the confinement she’d put it in. Blasted things. She should make hair clips that kept hair in place to matter how you twisted around to clean. Sophie frowned at her mop, looked to the reddish stain that seemed to have gotten bigger and decided there was nothing else for it.
“All right mop, this is how it’s going to be. This stain needs to come Up, have you got it? You’re just going to have to get it up. You too soap, you pay attention too...” Sophie didn’t know how much talking she was going to have to do to make this work. She always seemed to do these things by accident, actually. Sophie frowned and glanced around, making sure no one was giving her dark looks before she went back to muttering at the mop and the stain for good measure.
Despite the limited color, Ruby could still see pretty damn well with her goggles on. Color was nice, but she was adaptable. And it was fucking bright out during the day. Especially in the cafeteria. The lights got dimmer in the wee hours, but right now?
Right now it was shining bright for all to see.
Shame. But that was how things worked.
Somebody was muttering.
Ruby paused. Backtracked.
Then blinked.
Well then. Woman in a black dress. A stranger.
Hmm.
Ruby clicked her teeth. “You know we got drones for that, right?”
Sophie looked up and almost flipped the mop up to defend herself. She did let out a noise that might have been a squeak. The mop, as she jerked back, kept scrubbing industriously, and it looked like the stain might actually me trying to creep towards her wash water bucket.
Sophie focussed more on the face that something was talking to her, and, if it weren’t for the arm and the strange eyes, she might think it was a young girl. Sophie smoothed her skirts automatically and adopted a more controlled look.
“Well, yes, but cleaning is my job, and there wasn’t a drone around to do it. There’s nothing wrong with doing a little cleaning,” Sophie defended, then wondered why she was defended herself at all. People seemed to get so offended by her cleaning habits.
...something was up with that mop. Ruby narrowed her eyes at it, then folded her arms across her chest. Hmm. New girl had some tech. Or voodoo. One of the two. Ruby had seen a fair amount of that already. And combinations. She didn’t understand all of it, but hey, a girl had to roll with the punches. “Seriously? Woman, you got better options than that,” Ruby drawled. It came out cool and just a little mocking.
But really. Woman had something, why not make a decent living off it? Cleaning was not a good living.
The mop was still...moving.
Well, that was vaguely disconcerting.
Ruby thinned her mouth. “‘specially if you’re packing tech. Or voodoo, you know. I don’t judge. Whatcha got? Seriously, I wanna know. ‘s a neat trick.”
And possibly useful in the long run.
“Someone has to clean,” Sophie protested, drawing herself up to her full five foot five height. She scraped her fly away curls back from her face and frowned fiercely at the girl. It had to be a girl, though she talked like some of the mining children she’d seen once.
Sophie glanced at the mop. “Oh, you wouldn’t be interested. I’m a cleaning witch, but since cleaning isn’t of any use in your opinion, then it doesn’t really matter, does it?” Sophie tipped her nose up and sniffed. She could do more than clean, but this girl didn’t need to know that.
“Cleanin’ witch?”
That had to be one of the strangest things that Ruby had ever heard. And one of the more disappointing ones, too. Cleaning was, well. Kinda useless in the long run. Anything a drone could do...
Most folks were a bit more interesting than that.
Ruby snorted, peering down at the woman curiously. “You get the short end of the stick or somethin’? I got no voodoo, but seriously. You like doin’ this shit?”
“Yes. Yes, I do like to clean.” Sophie straightened. “It’s better than running around and poking people with sharp sticks. It’s also more useful.” Sophie did enjoy sometimes attacking people with killer weed killer, but only when she was particularly incensed.
“And I don’t have ‘voodoo’. I have magic,” Sophie corrected.
“Voodoo, magic, flashbang job, whatever. ‘s all the same.” Ruby grinned with her teeth. “You never hit somebody with a stick, you say it like that. That shit’s funny as hell. For a hobby, ‘nyway.”
Or just a joke. Gotta have a distraction from time to time.
The cleaning woman was interesting. Ruby kinda liked her.
Kinda. It might pass with time.
“I’m Ruby, by the way. You’re new, but you got a name. I know.” Ruby snapped her fingers. “Everybody does.”
“I only hit fire demons with sticks.” She hadn’t personally hit the fire demon, but her stick had done the beating when she’d asked it. “People often fall in line after a good threat,” Sophie added.
She wasn’t sure what to make of this girl. It had to be some kind of girl. She was borderline rude, Sophie thought, but she wasn’t so bad that she was offensive. She at least was straight forward, which Sophie rather liked.
“Sophie Hatter, and it’s very...interesting to meet you,” Sophie added slowly.
Fire demons, huh? Wasn’t that interesting.
Ruby grinned again. Her teeth weren’t perfectly white - nobody’s were - but they were straight and she knew how to make them look sharp. All part of the game. Push and pull, reel in the right reaction and then use it. “Good threat should never go to waste, nuh-uh. ‘s nice ta meet ya, Sophie. You’re good people.”
Maybe. They’d see.
“I never threaten anyone unless I think they need it,” Sophie retorted. She resisted the urge to set her hands on her hips and give Ruby the older sister stare. Really, smiles like that did not belong on young women--not unless you were facing down something truly terrifying or had a man to keep in line. Sophie worked well enough with a deadly glower, but not everyone could have such a skill.
“While you could use some better manners, you don’t need threatening,” Sophie added. What did it mean that she was ‘good people’? She was only one person. “I bet you were allowed to run wild as a child.”
For a moment, Ruby just stared.
Then she tipped her head back and laughed. Loudly. “Hell sugar, you’re funny,” she sniggered. “Good manners don’t get you nowhere when you’re runnin’ tech. But you must come from a nice place, eh Sophie?”
Had to be, else she’d know better. Everybody had a good threat or two; everybody that Ruby knew wouldn’t hesitate to use them.
Manners?
That was for people you weren’t brave enough to threaten, or who’d kill you for trying. Slowly.
Nice?
“I live with a heartless wizard who eats young girl’s hearts and never does anything he says he will. And there’s a fire demon living in our hearth.” Well, Howl had a heart now, but he had. Sophie did not come from a nice place. Ingary could be dangerous if you crossed the wrong people. You could end up as a scarecrow, dog, guitar, skull scattered all over the countryside.
“I have no idea what running tech means, but manners always get you somewhere. You just need to know where to apply them,” Sophie asserted. Unless it was something like dealing with people like the witch of the waste. That was when manners took a backseat to name calling and escape plans.
For a moment, Ruby considered that maybe she did talk funny. There weren’t a lot of people who could understand her here. Gin Charlie could, and Izumo hadn’t had much trouble, but everyone else? Yeah, that had been a bit of a challenge. Hmm.
Well, every place was different.
“Mhmm.” Ruby stretched her arms up towards the ceiling lazily. “We got monsters too. Talkin’ polite to them? Eh, maybe ya don’t fancy keeping your head where it is.”
She wasn’t going to play the game of My Life is Worse than Yours. That never ended well.
“Well no...” Not monsters. Sophie looked at Ruby and her bizarre attire. Before she’d met some of the people here, she might have considered Ruby a monster at first sight.
“What kind of monsters?” She couldn’t help herself. She was thinking of the scarecrow and how that had been frightening, but would anyone else here consider it a monster? Probably not, but they hadn’t met the thing.
Oh? Somebody was curious now. Ruby dropped her hands down with a grin. “Nasty little motherfuckers from the Wastes, that’s what we got. Ripped up my plane something fierce, let me tell ya. ‘s hell on business trips.” She bared her teeth widely. “But they go down after a few shots.”
Damn right. Fuckers died like anything else.
Wastes? Sophie wondered if the ones from Ruby’s world were anything like the Waste back home. Of course, Ruby only raised more questions, and Sophie found herself asking. “What is a plane?”
And what was she shooting at things?
What is a plane?
Ruby stared. “Wow, you’re more culturally deprived than that guy in 106 who thought I was a robot. That is old tech, sister! Planes. They’re like boats, ‘cept they go through the air. Carry stuff from Point A to Point B in style.” She snapped her fingers. “Best damn thing the world ever invented.”
“Then they’re magic,” Sophie decided. Flying boats must be magic. She wondered what a robot was, then remembered it was something like a drone. There were so many things to learn. She would know even more than Howl did when she went back home.
Ruby blinked. Magic? Hell to the no! Planes were awesome, no need for voodoo to spice that show up. “Um, no. It’s science. Aerodynamics and shit.”
Sophie didn’t know what any of those things were. Witches were supposed to fly on brooms, and she had heard of flying carpets before. She’d never actually seen one, but she’d read about them. “I think making something fly with magic would be easier.”
Hmm. Now that was a thought.
“Probably,” Ruby agreed. “But ya could say the same ‘bout most everything, couldn’t ya?” She considered it a moment longer. “Maybe you could make it fly faster.”
Ooooh, she liked that thought!
Sophie considered the scarecrow she had done that too. “Yes, even I can do something like that.” If she could do it on purpose, it must be easy.
Ruby blinked. Then clapped her hands together cheerfully. “Hot damn, sister! That’s an awesome talent. Wanna be friends?”
Hell, why not? Seemed like a good idea.
Somehow, Sophie found herself unsurprised by Ruby’s reaction. She had never met anyone like Ruby, but the girl seemed like a good sort--if not a little rough around the edges. Like Gin Charlie. He seemed like a frightfully horrible person at first glance, but he was actually very nice. It was like the opposite of Howl. He looked like he should be all nice and polite, but he was really quite horrible.
“I think I would like that,” Sophie admitted. She hadn’t really met anyone who wanted to be friends with her, which made her rather sad. Also, there were a few people who didn’t seem to like her much.
Sophie’s mop tapped her on the shoulder and he looked over at it. The floor was spotless. “Oh, thank you. That’s enough for now.” As Sophie reached out to take hold of the broom, it went back to being a normal broom.
Yaaay! Ruby grinned brightly, nearly bouncing on her heels. Today was a good day! She’d made a friend, somebody who probably didn’t know how to fight but was worth keeping around anyway. It was good to know all sorts of folk just in case, and Ruby was getting the hang of picking and choosing. The trick was to cast a wide net.
And look what she’d caught today.
Ruby stretched her arms up to the ceiling, pushing until her shoulder popped. “Cool! Whatcha do for fun, Sophie? I’m feelin’ a little deprived her, so I’m open ta suggestions for change and all that.”
“I clean,” Sophie admitted. She’d had more excitement than she could take lately. Sophie searched for something less boring. At least she wasn’t as drab as she had been when she was stuck in that hat shop.
“And practice magic.” And, really, whatever else there was for her to do. She had a pretty good track record for muddling up things terribly as well, but that wasn’t something she tried to do.
“Clean. Huh.” Ruby raised an eyebrow of that. There were people who considered cleaning fun. Well, that was a bit of a challenge to the system, wasn’t it? “Gotta say, most girls can do a tad better than that. But magic, huh. Tell me ‘bout the magic. I can’t do it myself, but hey, I respect the voodoo.”
People did what they had to. And the magic here could be pretty fucking awesome sometimes.
“I used to,” Sophie said with extreme distaste. “Make hats.” She wouldn’t consider that a hobby. She hadn’t disliked making hats when she’d been making them, but now she didn’t think she could stand making another hat. It would be terribly enchanted now and probably eat someone’s head anyway.
“I can talk life into things,” Sophie explained simply. It wasn’t a concept she really understood that well. Her magical training had just begun, and Howl was a very hard teacher to pin down.
Hmm. Hats. That was...
Eh. Ruby supposed people needed hats. And somebody needed to make them. Just how life worked.
Talking the life into things, though. That had potential. It sounded a bit like poetry, but that was all right. Ruby could deal with poetry. Watch her deal with it! “Didn’t like that hats, huh?”
Ruby considered it. She wouldn’t have liked making hats.
“Betcha you talk the life into all kindsa stuff, right? Like....” Ruby brightened. “Like a desk!”
Like Gin Charlie’s desk.
…..hehe. Oh, that needed to happen.
Ruby eyed Sophie critically. Now, how to convince the woman?
“I suppose I could.” The question was what a desk would do with life? Could you magic the drawers into keeping your papers straight? Could you make it pull things from other places? Refuse to open drawers?
It seemed like it could cause a lot of work.
“I tend to do it by accident. I’ve never tried to talk a desk to life.” Until recently, she’d never tried to talk anything to life.
Ruby sighed, a little disappointed that the prank wouldn’t be as easy to complete as she’d thought. Oh well. “But you could talk ‘bout anything ta life, right? Just for the hell of it?”
It was a...different sort of talent, to be sure. But one that Ruby wasn’t above using. Hey, if there was some gain to be had, she’d be all over it.
“I think so. I’m not certain what it would do.” Sophie thought of the scarecrow. “Or that some things should have life talked into them.” Sophie gave Ruby an appraising look.
“Is there something you need life talked into?” Sophie asked hesitantly.
Hmm. Well, they didn’t need it to do anything specific. Sometimes going in blind was a hell of a lot more fun than going in with a plan. Ruby brightened at the thought. “Be hilarious to get one up on Gin Charlie, wouldn’t it?”
Sophie thought of the large man with his tattoos. “I don’t know...”
Then again, if Ruby could get her into Gin Charlie’s office, then there was no telling what she could find in there. Sophie nodded. “If you can get me in while he’s out, then I’ll do it.”
“Sweet!” Ruby clapped her hands together cheerfully. “Take me a bit to figure out how he locks it an’ shit, but I’ll get it done. And then we’ll screw with ‘im. And it’ll be glorious.”
Yes it would. And nobody would ever suspect the cleaning witch, so it was perfect.
Sophie was going to have to make very sure that no one ever knew she had any part of this except Ruby. She’d make sure to stress secrecy, but, for some reason, she didn’t think that would be a problem. Still, it always paid to be certain when you were meddling.
“Good. Then I’ll figure out what to do with a desk after you’ve magicked it.” Sophie nodded her head, suddenly very pleased with this idea. She didn’t like just waiting around for things to happen.
Yaaay! Ohh, this would be fun. And worth it even if Gin Charlie figured it out. Not that he would, of course, but Ruby supposed it was good to prepare for the consequences just in case. She didn’t like to be paranoid, but this place was bringing it out in her. Too bad, really...
Ruby grinned cheerfully. “You’re okay, Sophie. I wasn’t sure at first, but you’re all right.”
“Well...” Sophie looked at Ruby. “I think you’re a good sort as well.” Perhaps misguided, but there was nothing wrong with a little mischief. It wasn’t as if someone was going to get hurt.
At least, Sophie hoped not.
Well, that was a good start. Right now it was a prank, but later...
Later maybe they’d escalate.
Ruby didn’t say that, though. It was just a possibility. She just grinned widely, clapping her hands together. “Cool. Hey, you ever want me ta point some cute guys your way, just say the word. Or ladies. Or both. I’m good at that sorta thing.”
And it was the sort of thing friends did.
“I’m taken.” Sophie grimaced at the thought of Howl. Would he be off gadding? Hopefully not! Micheal would stop him if he got that idea. Sophie’s face darkened. If she came back and found out he had been, she was going to beat him with a poker and then get Calcifer to help her curse him.
“Very taken.” By a no good wizard who should have rescued her by now.
“Yeah? Anybody I know?” Hey, info was info. Ruby liked to know how the people around her went about their business. Besides, she was a little curious too. Sophie was...interesting enough on her own, but you could always tell something from who a person chose to shack up with.
“No. He’s not here,” Sophie admitted. She could hope Howl would turn up soon, but, well...
Who knew?
“What about you, Ruby?” Martha and Lettie had wasted no time finding themselves boys. Maybe Ruby had someone special as well.
“Ahh, too bad.” There were a couple people that Ruby was missing back home, like Hannibal and Jen-Ten, but she was all right. They’d been gone for a long time anyway, laying low. Ruby shrugged. “Nothin’ steady, but you know Luka, the lady with the tats and no hair?” Ruby leaned forward with a grin. “She’s gonna take me dancin’.”
Luka had a nice smile and constellations tattooed all the way up both arms. And she was interesting in the fun way, so that was even better.
Sophie wasn’t completely certain of the connection between someone taking you dancing having a romantic interest, but maybe Ruby expected to meet someone while she was dancing. Sophie nodded, because she knew the woman Ruby was talking about. Sophie knew a lot of people simply from cleaning.
“I know her. Her rooms is one of the ones I clean.” And it wasn’t horribly dirty. In some rooms, the carpets and piles already had life before she even opened her mouth. Sophie wondered if the dancing here was anything like it was at home.
“What kind of dancing?”
Hmm. And there was another possible use for Sophie right there. She had access. Oh, this was going to be a productive friendship!Ruby didn’t jump up and down like a maniac, though. No need to scare Sophie off just yet. She’d work up to it. First it’d be fucking with Gin Charlie. A milk run. And after?
They could do some real work after that.
“The fun kind! Luka, she tangos.” Ruby put her hands on her hips. “I could tango, don’tcha think? I never tried, but I seen it. It’s fun! And sexy. Plus Luka’s got some bodymods, so she can lift me real high. Which is awesome.”
The only dancing Ruby had really done before was the twist and grind sort of thing. And the occasional victory dance. Tango sounded like fun, though. Ruby figured she’d do it in combat boots, because heels were crazy-dangerous and she didn’t like the idea of snapping an ankle. No thank you!
“You dance, Sophie?”
“Yes, sometimes.” At Mayday and other festivals. “But I’ve never heard of the tango.” It didn’t sound like the kind of dance that would take place in Market Chipping for some reason. Maybe they did it in another country or in palaces.
“But I was never very good at it.” Or had never enjoyed it very much. She’s always been very busy and preferred to work, not dance.
“Dancin’s fun! You get to see all kinda o’ people.” Ruby did an experimental twist, swaying her hips low and then bobbing back up again, grinning all the while. Maybe she didn’t have the sorts of moves that could pull off a waltz, but she wasn’t bad. She could hold her own on the dance floor. “Tango’s like...umm. Sexy dancing! Except all fancy and shit.”
Sophie blinked. That didn’t look like any dancing she’d ever seen. Actually, what it looked like was...
Well. It seemed things were very different between worlds when it came to dancing. “You’ll have to tell me how it goes.” Sophie didn’t like people that much. She usually made a mess of things, do getting involved in a crowd of people didn’t seem like fun.
“I will.” Ruby paused a moment, considering it. “Hey, you should come! Meet some people and stuff. You don’t have ta dance if ya don’t want to.”
Besides, it was good to know people. It led to better things.
Sophie thought it sounded like something Howl would enjoy, so it probably wasn’t something that she would enjoy at all. Still, she was starting to feel very mouse-ish again with all her avoiding people. Maybe she should just go watch and meet some people, as Ruby suggested.
“I’ll think about it. You should tell me when you plan on going.” Non-committal! She was almost as bad as Howl! “I’ll go.”
Much better.
Awesome! That wasn’t quite a yes, but it was close. Ruby grinned. “Me an’ Luka are goin’ tomorrow night. It’ll be fun. An’ I’ll work on Gin Charlie’s office in the meantime.”
Dancing, a prank, and a new person to hang out with. Life was looking pretty darn good, by Ruby’s standards.
Sophie nodded, wondering if he would go or not. Why not? What was the worst that could happen?
“Good.” She would go. She would meet people. It would be fine.
She hoped.
“Cool. I’ll see ya there, then.” Ruby paused, then leaned in a little closer. “It’ll be fun. You’ll see.”
Sophie kinda looked like she needed to get out a little more.
Sophie appreciated Ruby’s assurance. She herself was still very unsure, but her mind was made up. She would go.
She would have a good time, even. Maybe. As long as she didn’t accidentally charm something.
“I’ll be there,” Sophie confirmed again, more for herself than for Ruby’s benefit. She would go! No mousing out!
Ruby laughed a little, cheerfully. “Atta girl! We’ll make somethin’ of ya yet.”
This would be interesting, Ruby could tell. No matter how it turned out. She liked Sophie enough to go out and do stuff with her, and of course fuck with Gin Charlie. That’d be worth it. Definitely. And maybe afterwards they could graduate to something more interesting. Sophie had a talent there; it only needed to be exploited.
Baby steps. No need to rush.
Sophie felt rather disgruntled over that comment. She’d made something of herself just fine. Last time someone had tried to make something of her, she’d ended up as an old woman for ages. Granted, Ruby didn’t have the magic to do that, but Sophie was going to consider all suggestions and question carefully.
After all, there were worse things to be made into than an old woman.
“Anyway, babe, I best be runnin’.” Ruby clapped her hands together with a grin. “But I’ll be seein’ ya, Sophie. Good times, good times.”
Babe? Sophie was starting to think this translator didn’t work as well as it should, or maybe she should find a dictionary that explained slang. People just used words so oddly.
“Take care of yourself,” Sophie admonished. She was sure Ruby could take care of herself, but she also looked like she could get into a lot of trouble very quickly.
“Sure, sure.”
Ruby waved a little before she turned. This felt right, she decided. It might lead to something fun and interesting later on. Maybe even something productive. First a prank, a simple little thing just for the fun of it, but later?