Esmeralda dances to the rhythm of the tambourine (changewillcome) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-07-23 21:34:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !partner thread, esmeralda, kitiara uth matar |
Who: Esmeralda and Kitiara
What: Random meeting, dance suggestions
When: Recently
Where: The Court of Miracles
Warnings: Low
Status: Partner Thread | Complete
Kitiara was always looking for new places for a drink. While going to the same bar all the time could prove to be comforting - there really wasn’t much better than a pub where everyone knew your name and your drink order - she also enjoyed the excitement that came with finding a new place.
She’d found the Court of Miracles not entirely by accident. It had been mentioned to her as a club that had some great entertainment, and Kitiara figured why not. She’d found a table near the bar to sit at, kicked her feet on top of the surface, and leaned back, nursing her drink as she watched the stage. So far she’d watched a man who could juggle swords, and a woman who moved almost more gracefully than anyone Kitiara had seen before had finished her nearly mesmerizing dance.
Kitiara had never been very interested in dancing. The closest she came would be the dance of combat. But someone had mentioned bellydancing on the Network and Kitiara thought that sounded fun and more than a little sexy. After watching the woman move, Kitiara couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy.
“Hey there,” Kitiara said, waving to the woman as she walked near Kitiara’s table after the dance. “Nice moves.”
Club would be an interesting description, although so long as people came, enjoyed and paid, none of Clopin’s ‘family’ would really care. They preferred the nature of word of mouth as it were, so if people used different words that still managed to intrigue new customers, who were they to complain? No. They would be what they were, and entertain and get by, just as always.
One thing Esmeralda wasn’t sure of was the whole dream thing that she had seen on the network and herself had some. She supposed it wasn’t so peculiar, though the feelings they left were unnerving. She just didn’t feel the need to complain, and well, the performance outfit that had shown up worked well for some of the performances she did. And who was she to turn away a free outfit she hadn’t needed to make on her own?
Having finished up with the usual flash of smoke and ‘vanishing’ before returning to the floor in an outfit more for mingling, serving and the like until she was to dance later on in the night, she blinked as she was called over to a table with a smile.
“Thank you.”
“Normally, I’m not into the whole dancing thing, but you certainly held my attention.” The fact that the woman wasn’t hard on the eyes didn’t hurt either. “Are you able to sit and have a drink, or is that frowned upon here?”
“Always a welcomed compliment.” Smile, bow of the head and then she straightened up. Really, when people weren’t into dancing so much yet she kept their attention? That was always nice to hear. Oh there were also those who had other reasons for keeping their attention on her, but Esmeralda took it in stride, just as she did most things.
Then the question on if she was able to have a seat and drink.
“I can probably get away with it for a bit of time.”
Smile and tone light, Esmeralda nodded to Gringoire who was at the bar to let him know she was on break for the time. She’d keep an eye on time but they also were to make people feel welcome and invited, so that did include sometimes sitting and talking. Which was fine by Esmeralda.
Kitiara waved over another server and ordered a drink for Esmerelda, before adjusting her seat so that she was actually sitting at the table instead of resting her feet on it. “I saw someone mention belly dancing on this forum I’m a member of,” Kitiara said, taking a sip of her own drink. “It seemed intriguing. I assume it’s fairly close to the kind of dancing you do?”
Well, that meant it was probably Destiny’s post. Interesting. “Valarnet?” Might as well ask. It did seem there were a fair number of people on the network who found themselves at the Court of Miracles. “If so, that was a friend of mine who offered. And yes, it is intriguing.” As for being close to what she did? “Some of it is…” There was a balance Esmeralda had to strike, as her dance was both performance and for others, but the roots were cultural and not to be shared. But she knew the way to toe that line. “What would you like to know?”
“Yes, Valarnet,” Kitiara said, a little surprised that this woman was also on it, but not terribly. It seemed to be a rather large Network. “My younger brother’s annoying friend somehow convinced me to join up.” Tas was Kitiara’s friend too, though she rarely admitted it to others.
“Mostly if it’ll be worth my time,” Kitiara said airily. “Now, you obviously enjoy this whole thing, and you’re good at it. But does it impact your life at all when you’re not dancing?”
Given she was new to the area, Esmeralda didn’t really have anything to judge the size of Valarnet on. Now that she was able to afford a personal computer, she was able to keep tabs on the network more than when she’d been relying on the library. Who knew, perhaps she’d even get a mobile with data one of these days. Either way, to her there was nothing to compare it to.
“Ah. A friend recommended it to me as well.” Of course with Grantaire, it was always tricky to know if he was being serious or not. As it were, she had met others here and then they were on it so it all worked out.
“I suppose it depends on how you mean does it impact my life. For the most part, it’s how I earn a living. But I suppose you could say I have faster reflexes and am able to move better because of it?”
“I suppose you deal with these dreams as well then?” Kitiara asked. It was hard to tell for sure, but it seemed like most of the people on the Network were plagued with dreams from another life. Though, truth be told, now that Kitiara wasn’t dreaming of taking care of her brothers anymore, they weren’t so bad.
“Both of which are things I’d enjoy,” Kitiara said. She could hold her own in a brawl, but most of the fighting she did involved firearms. In her dreams, she could move with a grace that came with handling a sword - toy or real - since she was old enough to hold one. In her dreams now she was sixteen, and could probably put her real self to shame. It was almost as humiliating, or would be if it wasn’t herself who was putting her to shame.
“Ah yes, the infamous dreams. I’ve had a few though I’m not quite sure what to make of them.” They weren’t horrible. But that might also come from the fact Esmeralda just tended to go with things. “Though I will appreciate them for bringing a new performing outfit, as well as tambourine to use in my performances.” Always find something good, that was her motto. That and fighting fights she had no chance of winning.
“I think it would definitely help. It also helps your stamina.” That was always important for people. If she didn’t dance, or hadn’t always been on the run, who knew how her stamina would be. However, she didn’t need to wonder and she knew that dancing had helped her stamina, grace and reflexes.
Kitiara sighed. “My brother shares the same dreams of me, but he got to skip ahead to the exciting stuff, whereas for some reason I got the fantasy world version of our childhood.” Except so much worse. Their mother in this world may not have been the most attentive mother in the world, leaving Kitiara to pick up the slack, but their mother in the dreams was completely useless. “Is that outfit from your dreams then?”
Kitiara smiled. “Well, those all sound like good bonuses to me. I’ll have to give it a shot. At least until I decide if it’s something I really want to pursue or not.”
“Interesting. No one shares my dreams, at least not that I know of.” She was the only one at the Court who used the Network or had the dreams and Destiny’s dreams seemed to take place in a more current time and Grantaire already said his dreams were in the past but not as far back as hers. “As for this outfit? No. But the one I was wearing when dancing before changing, yes.”
And it seemed that Kitiara seemed willing to try, which was always good. “Nothing wrong with trying something new. You never know what you might discover.”
“I must say that it’s nice,” Kitiara said. It would have been nicer if they had all been dreaming of the same timeline though. It wasn’t even that helpful that Raistlin and Tas were so far ahead of her, since aside from a couple of mentions, she’d apparently never made an appearance in either of their dreams yet so they couldn’t even tell her what she was up to. She’d felt foolish when the draconians had shown up earlier in the month with both of them knowing exactly what the creatures were and Kitiara being completely at a loss.
“It was a beautiful dress. I must say I’m somewhat jealous. All my dreams have given me thus far is the toy sword I practiced with while I was a child. And a pendant, though I may pawn it.” It had been an engagement present from her would-be fiance, but he was dead now and Kitiara had no use for it.
“I can see why.” Would she want to discuss the complexities of the dreams with others? It was hard to say. One thing was certain, Esmeralda certainly had no desire to speak with the archdeacon, though part of her thought perhaps that in all his religious fervor, he might be swayed or at least follow the Christian teachings. As for the poor bell ringer… the world hadn’t come far in regards to its treatment of those who were different so she had to wonder if he’d be okay in such a place as Orange County, where people were judged by the ‘beautiful ones’ given the proximity to Hollywood and the like.
“It has its uses. And if I need a new tambourine, I’ve one of those as well.” It was up to each individual on how to use the items they received. Thankfully Esmeralda’s had purpose and could be used. True, she wasn’t sure about the amulet, but she was drawn to it and so had no plans on getting rid of it. Not that she could see someone wanting to pay money for an amulet that was made of twine and sticks in the formation of a map that only those who knew what they were looking for would be able to read.
“A tambourine,” Kitiara repeated, amused. It seemed like an almost ridiculous gift to get, but then she remembered that it was probably better than a toy sword. It certainly had more practical uses than her gift, especially since Esmeralda seemed to handle them skillfully.
Esmeralda shrugged at the comment. She could see why it was amusing. Why would someone dream of a tambourine? “Well, I do dance with them, not just here it would seem.” So far, there were a lot of similarities between dreams and real life. Well, aside from the time period. But Romani, Paris being horrible to her people, doing what was necessary to survive. “I’m not sure what to make of them, but I suppose only time can tell us that.”
Speaking of time, she noticed the look from Clopin and nodded. She was going to need to start making rounds soon. But she would see how the conversation went first.
Kitiara frowned. She used to be sure of plenty, but since moving here she was beginning to admit to herself that she apparently didn’t know as much about the world as she had once assumed she did. Not that she’d admit as much to Esmerelda. She wasn’t prone to showing signs of weakness to anyone.
“Perhaps all there is to them is giving you keepsakes from another world.” Which would no doubt rope in all sorts of money, if only she could prove that kind of thing. “My philosophy so far has been to not think too hard on any of this. It just leads to headaches.”
She didn’t miss the look between Esmerelda and what appeared to be her boss. “But I suppose I’ve taken up enough of your time. You’ll be seeing me again though.”
“Perhaps and there’s nothing wrong with that.” And there wasn’t. While life in her dreams wasn’t exactly easy, it wasn’t horrible either. So the keepsakes were nice, even if she wasn’t quite sure what to make of them. At least the ones she couldn’t quite utilize for her act. “But a very good philosophy. We have our lives here to worry about, despite these dreams and whatever it is they mean.”
True, they had a strange bleedover in terms of emotions, and she had seen others mention things far stranger. But no good came from worrying about them and letting them influence your day to day.
“I will look forward to it. And definitely consider Destiny’s class. It should be fun.” With a smile, Esmeralda bowed her head before moving from the table to do her rounds and flirt until she she needed to prepare for the next performance.