Vairea (unblight) wrote in the_cirque, @ 2024-03-04 12:58:00 |
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When Vairea arrived at her office in the late afternoon, the cicadas were running so loud that they had become a background blanket of sound which, by now, had almost faded out of notice. The heat had not managed to fade quite so effectively for Vairea though, and she was feeling it. She knew that she’d adjust after a few weeks, but for now it was down to the minimal clothing of a black tank top and cut off denims. For any job in the outside world that might have been too casual a look, but the cirque had no dress codes (especially for those of them who did all their work out of the public’s eye). “And I’m telling you that a double ended dildo is not a cirque-related purchase.” The dining hall was quite full at this time, and Vairea was looming over Hamer who had been eating his meal in peace before Vairea swept in, brandishing his form (which was complete with a crude blue pen drawing of what seemed to be two very busty women using the tool). “Could be,” Hamer said, shooting a smile at his friends. Vairea watched him calmly. He was brash and young, this one. She’d seen him crowing about. But that was fine, because Vairea had dealt with plenty of his type. She set her hands down flat on the table and leaned into him, a little too much in his personal space for a near-stranger. “You’re new,” Vairea said, with a tone that suggested utter calm and control, “so let me explain how this works. You are not a special little boy, and your funny little joke is wasting my important time.” With one hand she gestured around the dining tent and to all the people there, some of whom were by now watching them. “I keep all this running smoothly. From the food you’re jamming in your greedy mouth, to the plate it’s served on. And I know your type; I can smell your whole impotent bully deal a mile off.” She stood back up and slapped the form down on the table in front of him. “I’m not the correct woman to try it with.” Hamer broke eye contact first, rolling them dramatically and returning to his food. Sitting across the table from Hamer was one of the riggers and Vairea gave him a quick nod. “I’ll have those cables you ordered in the next couple days.” And with that, Vairea left the dining tent. She hadn’t meant to stop on her way back to the office, but Samed was tightening ropes on the Big Top and Vairea couldn’t help lingering to make sure that a) he was doing it right, and b) that he didn’t need a hand. Vairea needn’t have doubted him, but she was able to take instructions and help get the ropes as he wanted them. They paused there for a while after, in the beating down sun, with Vairea talking mostly about Mikhi and how well he’d been doing in his most recent classes. When talking about her son, Vairea absolutely lit up. Even if someone hadn’t known them, the amount of love she had for him would have been more than clear. He was so much smarter than her, so much kinder, so much more open to the beautiful things in this world. Raising him here in this den of dangers could have made him hard, but it had only shaped him into one of the most loving people that Vairea knew. She couldn’t have been prouder of the man he’d become (and couldn’t stop dreading the day that he would eventually choose to leave this family of his). She promised Samed they'd do drinks soon, and told him to give her love to his husband. Getting back to the section of the cirque set aside for the boring offices, Vairea found six-year-old Judith sitting on the steps of security, arms crossed and little face crumpled up in anger. She looked up at Vairea and asked (in the same French of her healer mother), “do you know when security will get here?” Vairea made her away across the grass to Judith and there was a part of her that was naturally worried. A month ago this was the same little girl who had first alerted the circus to the mutilated body in their midst. Crouching, Vairea asked her own gentle question in French as well. “Has something happened?” With all the righteousness that could fit inside a small child, Judith declared, “Skull told me that my papa left the circus because I was too annoying!” Vairea’s lips set into a line. Skull (who worked in catering) was not the best with children. “That’s not true, but it’s not a crime for Skull to say. It’s just not very nice.” Judith frowned deeply at this news. “But… Isaac will put him in chains?” “No, sorry, he can’t punish people for saying mean things.” (Dante might be more likely to punish people for being mean, but Vairea didn’t think that should be encouraged.) Judith directed her glare at Vairea now, rather the only messenger to shoot in this scenario. “So… Skull can just say mean things whenever he likes??” Vairea sighed. “That is unfortunately the price of living in a community. Sometimes you may not like the people you live with, but you still have to work together. Come on, up.” She reached out for Judith’s hand. “If you stay until you’re grown up and Skull is still here, you will have to rely on each other. You will have to learn how to do that, and sometimes it is hard.” “I hate that,” Judith frowned, kicking at a rock. “You’re allowed to hate it,” Vairea nodded. “Now go on, I’ve got work to do and you’re not supposed to be hanging around here.” Judith left as though the heaviest boulder in the world had been placed upon her little shoulders, and Vairea suspected that the moping rock would remain there for the rest of the day. Vairea returned to her office—two hours after she’d left it—and declared “ugh” and the indoor temperature that remained awful. Her coffee was still lukewarm. Nothing for it. She had work to be doing. |