A Chat
Who: Ivanya and Remy When: Afternoon Where: Ranch
Ivanya had decided to take a trip to the ranch. It’d been a while since she’d been there and getting some fresh air would be nice, since the bunker didn’t really have too much of that to begin with. She strolled along the roads with her hands in the pocket of her jackets until the ranch came into view and she smiled at it. Maybe she’d find something happening here that would entertain her for a while. Or, more likely, someone that would entertain her for a while.
Remy had been helping out all morning as she had been since she moved to the ranch. Living here with Riley and his family was so much better than living with her aunt and uncle. While she loved her aunt, her uncle's more frequent passes at her made it very difficult to live with them. She didn't want to cause problems, nor did she want to upset her aunt. Things were bad enough without knowing how much of a creep her uncle had turned into. Or maybe he hadn't turned at all. Maybe he'd always been that way.
Regardless, she wasn't thinking about her uncle when she caught sight of Ivanya. She smiled at the girl, wiping off her hands on her jeans and waving at her. "Hey," she called out. She liked being able to converse with people as frequently as she could. Now that her uncle wasn't always keeping tabs on her, that was easier to do. "How're you?"
Ivanya grinned a little at Remy as she started closer to the girl. She’d always been interesting to Ivanya but she’d never quite gotten enough information on her to really move toward with anything. Maybe today would be the day she got some more details. “Good, good, despite all the crazy bullshit that keeps happening in this place. How’re you? What’s going on in Remy-world?”
Crazy bullshit was definitely the best way to describe the goings on around the dome lately. Remington tried her best to forget about everything bad and fill her life with as much good as possible, but there was only so much she could push under the rug and forget about. "I'm doing alright," she told her. "Getting used to my new home," she explained, glancing back at the ranch. "I'm liking it a lot so far, though," she smiled, turning her attention back to Ivanya. "What have you been up to? Anything exciting lately?"
New home. People didn't just get new homes because they wanted to. That sparked a curiosity in Ivanya that led her to step a little closer to Remington. "So..why'd you end up here? Is a ranch really your dream place to live?" There had to be something else, something she didn't know about, and Ivanya was going to dig until she found it. Or found enough probably cause to make something out of it. "Oh me? Nothing much. Pretty boring stuff, but I'm more interested in your new digs."
Remy wasn't the sort to lie, so she just shook her head when she was asked about the ranch and whether or not it was her dream place to live. It wasn't. There was no point in pretending that it was. "It's better than the alternative," she explained. "I was staying with my aunt and uncle until my birthday. It wasn't the best environment. Between that and here, this place is paradise." As close to it as she was going to get in the dome at least. "I like it though. It's growing on me already."
Interesting… Ivanya nudged her head a little and started walking, looking back to see if Remy would follow her for a stroll around the ranch. "Ok so…your other housing situation wasn't ideal. But why not? Family's good, right?" She needed to know just what had run Remy out of her original home. It was itching inside of her, a necessary piece of information for her to obtain. "And how'd you end up on a ranch instead of...well, basically, anywhere else?"
Remy did indeed follow. She wasn't quite ready for the conversation to be over so she figured she might as well tag along to wherever Ivanya was going. "My uncle and I didn't really get along," she explained. She didn't mind answering a few questions, after all. None of them seemed too prying really and Ivanya was nice. "I ended up here because Riley was nice enough to let me come on as a ranch hand," she explained. "It just seemed to fit and come at the right time."
All of this was really interesting information. Riley was nice enough to bring her own, her uncle and she didn't get along so much that she left home because of it. It would need a little more digging before she could kick anything up, but she was well on her way to getting the information she needs. "So what do you do here anyway? I'm not really sure what…ranch-hands, is that the right term? Well, I'm not really sure what you do." Of course things with the animals and Ivanya could venture a guess if she wanted to, but asking this kind of thing was mostly a diversion. Mostly her trying to lull Remy into a sense of security in order for Ivanya to pull more information from her later.
"I help out mostly," she told her. "Whatever needs to be done. Feeding the animals, tending to house chores. Just a little of everything really. Errands if they need to be done." She shrugged a bit. In truth, she was still working out what a ranch-hand did. She was just getting into the swing of things really. She smiled at Ivanya and pushed her hair back over her shoulder. "I'm still sort of working it out myself," she admitted. "Whatever is asked of me, I try to work out."
"Seems like a lot of work. You sure you can handle all of it?" She asked, looking back over at Remy. She wasn't exactly a big, hulking strong man or anything. It didn't much matter, but Ivanya wouldn't have picked working at a ranch over working somewhere much cushier. "Were you just raring to smell like animals all day?"
Remy nodded. "I'm sure I can handle all of it," she said. "I mean I can't do as much as a man might be able to, but I'll do whatever I can," she explained. She was sure that there were plenty of smaller jobs that she was more than capable of helping out with. While the men took the larger ones, she could help with things around the house, cleaning, feeding the animals, keeping things straight. There was plenty to do. She shrugged at that last comment. "I mean no one wants to smell like animals all day, but it's not so bad really."
"But you'd rather smell like animals all day than be around your uncle?" She asked, looking back at Remy with as much innocence as she could muster. "That's a pretty big statement." Not that Remy had even said it, but Ivanya was fine with putting words in people's mouths. She'd been doing it ever since she came here.
Remington supposed that statement was true, even if she hadn't quite worded it that way. "Well, yes," she said, nodding slightly. "I suppose I would rather smell like animals than be around my uncle all day." It wasn't really a choice, as far as she was concerned. Her uncle had surpassed the level of creepiness as far as she was concerned. He'd made too many passes. It just wasn't right. It didn't feel right. "It's not really bad being here though," she told her, smiling a little. "It's actually really nice. All the other ranch-hands are nice and so is Riley and his family. Not much of a contest between them and my uncle really. Besides, I'm sure that my uncle is tired of taking care of me anyway."
Still no further to understanding the real reason why Remy had left her family, Ivanya decided she'd have to think up another tactic. Everything she was saying was just too vague to be used as real collateral. "Well, I'm glad you like it here, then. Hey, we should get some pie together at the diner sometime. You can't spend all your time here at the ranch. You gotta get out too, right?" Maybe a chance of scenery would give Ivanya what she needed. And she could play the long con if she needed to.
Remy smiled. She liked the sound of that. She liked the thought of having another friend even more. "Oh yes," she said, nodding. "I'd like that very much. You'll have to let me know when is a good time for you and I'll try and make sure I clear my schedule up enough to meet you," she smiled. She didn't work all the time, of course, so there was plenty of opportunities for her to be able to fit Ivanya in.
"Well, we could just go over there right now, unless you have other things to do here. Or we could go another time and you can show me around the ranch some?" She asked, looking back toward Remy for a moment as she smiled. "I'd love to see where you spend your days. I feel like I just never get to see you around anymore!"
She'd done the majority of her chores already, but she didn't really want to rush off without letting someone know. Showing Ivanya around the ranch, however, wasn't something that would take her away from the last bit of her work for the day. "I'd love to show you around," she said, smiling. "You're right, we haven't seen each other around a lot lately. I guess things with the move have just been a little hectic. I need to make sure all the animals still have feed if you want to come with me," she smiled.
Did she want to help feed the animals? Not really. Did she mind going? Not really. "Sure, I'll go with you. See the animals," She said, tucking her hands back into her pockets as she walked with Remy. "So you're gonna make more effort to be around or are you gonna hide with the animals more?" She asked, a tease in her voice.
Remington wasn't going to make Ivanya work, of course. It wasn't her job and that just wouldn't be fair anyway. At the question, Remy chuckled a little. "I'm going to try and make more of an effort to get out," she told the other girl. "It's about time that I spend some time outside of the house for once. My uncle never really wanted me doing much." She worked, of course, since it was just one of those things that everyone had to do to keep the dome going, but aside from that, he kept a pretty tight rein on her. Now those reins were broken and Remy was finally learning how to live her life with her newfound freedom. "We'll definitely get to see each other more often," she assured Ivanya as they headed towards the animals and where their feed was kept.
Ivanya followed along after Remy, though something caught her attention. Her uncle. She was mentioning her uncle again and it didn't sound very good. He never wanted her doing much? What was that supposed to mean? Confused and curious, she stayed quiet for a moment and studied Remy for any sign of reaction, any sort of tell about how she was feeling. "So what do you mean, your uncle never wanted you to do anything? That seems a little crazy, considering you can't really go anywhere now that the dome is locked up."
Remy shrugged her shoulder a little. "He was just very protective," she said. Protective wasn't really the best word for it. Possessive was a much better word, but she didn't say as much. "He was the same way with my aunt," she explained. "Still is. It's just the sort of man he is. He keeps his family close and wants them to be in his sight. I don't know, it doesn't really make much difference anymore. Not now that I'm on my own," she smiled.
Protective. She could understand that, but she wasn't really getting a vibe of protection from Remy about her uncle. Maybe it was true and he only wanted to protect them, but this was more than enough to pique her interest in the subject, maybe give her some fodder to do something about it later. "Well, at least now you're out on your own. Showing off your independence and all that? Smelling like animals is better than being stuck in a cage like one, right?"
She nodded and laughed a little. "Well, hopefully I don't smell like animals all the time," she chuckled. She made sure to keep herself clean after working, but she doubted she smelled all that wonderful at the moment. "You're right though," she agreed. "It's a lot better than being stuck in a cage."
Very interesting. She watched Remy again and headed closer to her. "Cages suck," She agreed, giving the girl a smile then looking around again. She'd ease up on the uncle talk for now, not wanting to push Remy too far away too quickly. "Show me your favorite thing to do here?" She offered, thinking it might be beneficial if she didn't push Remy for more information for the rest of this conversation. She'd gotten a good amount already.
Cages definitely did suck. She was glad to move onto something else to talk about for the moment and when asked what her favorite thing was to do, she shrugged a little. "I just like being outside," she admitted. "Spending time with the animals. They're really sweet," she explained as she led Ivanya over to where the animals were housed. The animals gave Remington someone to talk to that wouldn't judge her and sometimes it was nice to just sit and carry on a one sided conversation with a neutral and unjudging party. "What are your favorite things to do?," she asked.
Start viscous rumors? Ivanya thought, but didn't say that. Instead she just smiled and tried to think of the most non-threatening thing she could. "Oh, you know. Read. Managed to keep one or two books in good condition throughout this whole thing so I have them with me." Though she never really did read them. She was always too busy reading her father's blueprints and helping him in the lab. "But the animals seem nice. Probably feels good to just sit and chill with them."
Remy smiled. Reading was one of her favorite things as well, whenever she had the chance to get ahold of a book that she actually would like to read at least. Those days had been few and far between, but one never knew what you'd end up with in the end. Anything could happen. "It does," she agreed. "I like to read too," she added. "Whenever I have the chance. Do you have a favorite book?," she asked the other girl.
"Eh, not really," Ivanya answered, not because she didn't but because she couldn't think up one through the lie itself. "I don't know, maybe Moby Dick or something. The goal of achieving the unachievable." She shrugged again, looking back at Remy. "What's your favorite book?"
"I don't really have one," she said honestly. She probably should have thought about the question being turned back on her before she asked it. "I like romances, though," she admitted. She was a girly girl sometimes. Who wasn't a sucker for a good romance?
"Yeah, romances are pretty great." Ivanya liked them enough, though probably less than other teenage girls. But at least she could agree with Remy on that.