Closed Fit for an Eagle Princess(Azira)

[Drusilla]

Drusilla smiled and nodded at Azira's 'I'm fine.' "Glad to hear it, this winter...." She shook her head, "I fear many will not make it though. Life seems so short here. No matter the caste... I've lost so many friends already.." Drusilla looked into the fire. "I was four, and I only remember that because my father remarried around the same time. It was a happy time, believing that the monster's lived outside our cozy cave... Only to later realize that the monsters of this world were living in that cave all along...." Her violet eyes shifted. "Perhaps... you could take your own measurements if I showed you the proper way. That way no one would have to touch you. You'd still have to undress, though. If I taught you you how you could take them at home and bring the measurements to me. Would that be less stressful for you?" Drusilla was taken aback by the sudden outburst, "I-I apologize. From experience almost everyone wants to impress the Endals... I didn't mean anything by it, if that's what you thought!" Talking to Azira was like walking on eggshells. It seemed she could do nothing right in the teen's eyes. "The bows can be replaced or taken off completely. They were just ideas... Perhaps you were right and I should just make you some fancy clothes instead." She sat cutting golden strips to match the straps she earlier had pinned to the dummy. Facing the inside parts out, Drusilla threaded her needle with a matching gold thread. She began to sew the two strips together carefully. Even if Azira was being...difficult. She needed to get some work done and if this girl didn't want a dress or anything for that matter she'd still make something just to prove she could.

[Azira]

Drusilla was obviously not used to the harsh realities of life in Wind Reach, particularly when the winter came around. Perhaps she hadn't been here for previous winters when the Dek had been known to eat each other. Given her apparent sympathy towards the lower caste, Drusilla would most likely be horrified by the extremes the Dek were driven to but the truth was that their caste was more expendable than the rest of Inarta society. Yes, they needed them but they could afford to have fewer than them. So when the food grew short someone had to be sacrificed and she assumed that the spider was talking about losing Dek friends.

But her last comment that caste made no difference shocked the Avora. Her mouth opened, ready to argue but she froze as she realised that it was true.It was not only the Dek who had suffered thus far this winter. Avora had died out on the mountain, killed by exposure, or avalanches, or desperate predators. The eagle riders had also lost some of their number. She thought of Lavira and Alori and wondered how many other had died in Zulrav's wrathful winds. The ones who seemed safest of them were the Chiet and Yasi, neither of them in danger as far as she knew but she could well be wrong.

The Symenestra had moved onto other things though, talking about her childhood alongside some strange comments about monsters and caves tat the huntress didn't understand. She did latch onto the answer to her previous question concerning Drusilla going to weaving school. "You started when you were four? Yasi don't even... Do Symenestra age differently to us or something? There are some races that age faster but I didn't think..." The teen's brow furrowed in confusion. Could the spiders really begin learning things so early, at half the age that the Yasi did? It seemed harsh to the Inarta, a deprivation of childhood in her eyes.

The prospect of taking her own measurements was a welcome one and she nodded enthusiastically in reply, eager to be in some way independent and keep her dignity at the same time. It'd certainly be less stressful although she wondered how the seamstress had realised that that was how it made her feel. Maybe she'd been very obvious about it. The same way that she'd been obvious about her unwillingness to impress the Endals. Drusilla was quick to condemn her previous suggestions, including the ones concerning her designs. The huntress had no idea what the seamstress was going to make, especially given that Azira wasn't making things easy for her.

"So are you making a dress, or a vinati and bryda?" The teen cocked her head to the side, watching closely as the spider set to work. She threaded a needle with practised ease as the Avora looked on, trying to make sense of what the woman was going to do. "How much different would it be to make a dress compared to Inarta clothing? I mean a vinati would be kind of like the top of a dress if it was made a little longer and if you sewed it to opened up bryda... I'm talking nonsense, aren't I? I'm thinking out loud. Bad habit." The teen sent an apologetic look in the woman's expression, a rare expression for her and lapsed into silence. Better to let the woman get on with her work.

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[Drusilla]

"We age the same although my lifespan is much longer than yours if I don't reproduce. To be impregnated by a male Symenestra means almost certain death, we even have a saying stating that Caetszo. That's how I lost my mother. Poisoned from the day we're conceived, only on birth do we make our first poisonous kill our mothers. That is why the Symenestra take women of other races and force them to birth." Drusilla's voice grew angry as she spoke. "My mother, was brave. She carried me knowing the outcome. She didn't doom an innocent women to die like so many do. You know what really gets me, the fact that the bodies of those poor women are discarded as trash. My kind needs to die. We are monsters." Drusilla only now realized her horrid rant and sighed. Surely she had terrified Azira. "It's one of the reasons I ran away. I don't want to be part of that culture. I don't want to be Symenestra. I hate my people. I apologize for my ranting." Taking a few ticks to collect herself she continued on. "But yes, I was four. It was a pleasant time it beat my step-mother's beatings. My father remarried an azo. In front of my Papa she pretended to care for me, but the tick he left... I have three siblings by her, although the youngest the twins I don't really remember... Except that the surrogate who birthed them was Inarta. She was nice, I imagine that's what a mother is like... I was tasked with helping care for her. When she gave birth and they tossed her body to the cave bottom below. It was the final straw, I had to leave. To warn others if nothing else. But thanks to my father schooling me at such a young age I found a home here sewing. You see, just as Inarta wish to hunt and fly, Symenestra wish to weave and sew." Drusilla smiled "Alright then I just show you how to take your measurements and you can give them to me and I'll update your file right away. Okay, first is the bust line." Drusilla picked up a measuring tape and a put it around her chest. "You'll do this naked of course, but I'll stay clothed for this demonstration. Measure your bust right over your nipples, like this and then write down the number. Second, waist line which is measured right here." Drusilla moved the measurement tape. Last your hips, this one is pretty easy. Just over here and done!" Drusilla said cheerfully. Drusilla stopped sewing to listen to the teen. "No no no! Don't apologize for voicing how you feel." She put the straps aside a picked up her book and began to sketch, "Something like this? Here change anything you'd like we'll get this figured out." She handed Azira a piece of charcoal. "Let's brainstorm!"

[Azira]

Azira had never thought that a simple question could lead into such a rant and one that grew angry as it progressed. It actually made her reconsider her former thoughts on the spider as she took a careful step backwards, cautious and slow as if she expected the Symenestra to leap at her. It had slipped her notice that the race was in fact poisonous. Whatever book she'd read concerning them had perhaps neglected to include that fact. Or maybe, subconsciously she had known. If she'd hit Drusilla in the face what were the chances that she would have been poisoned, killed because of a simple moment of anger. It was not comforting to realise just how close to death she had been. Drusilla was just as much of a danger as any predator you could encounter around Wind Reach. She'd have to remember to keep that in mind if she had future dealings with the seamstress.

Just because she was somewhat afraid of the woman didn't mean that she didn't hear what she said. Women used as incubators against their will who died because of what they birthed. So that was why they stole women, why their males were shot on sight for fear for what they would do. And then to be discarded as if those women were nothing... Well the Inarta did the same with the Dek but it wasn't the same, was it? No, it wasn't. Everyone was disposed of really so it wasn't like they treated anyone the way the Symenestra did. It wasn't the same for them but the spiders sounded barbaric.

Drusilla had lost her mother as well but she had never known her; she had murdered her. Azira had known her mother if only for a time, a time that now seemed fuzzy when she tried to remember it except for a few clearer fragments. They were both motherless and had been so when they needed their mothers. The huntress would have liked someone to go to when the other Yasi had tormented her. The other woman had even been bullied, although her tormentor had been a mother figure rather than a peer. She wouldn't have expected them to have that much in common, couldn't believe that the woman had been through what she had. Such things didn't show but it seemed they were more similar than she had first anticipated.

Just like that, the serious discussion was over and the Symenestra was back on the subject of clothes. She explained how measurements could be taken, her movements quick and clearly practised but not too hard for the Avora to follow. Yes, she'd much prefer to do that herself in the privacy of her own room. No way was anyone touching her. At least that was settled. She could take the measurements herself and then bring the numbers to Drusilla to file away. The only problem was...

"I don't have a measuring tape. Can I borrow one?" the teen asked as a piece of charcoal was pushed into her hand. She stared at the small black stick and then up at the seamstress. "Wait, you want me to draw? I can't draw. I don't even pay that much attention to clothes so how can I draw what they should look like and I can't even draw in the first place so... what am I supposed to do?" An expression of bewilderment crossed her features as she looked at the spider's drawings. She made it look easy so maybe it was. The charcoal hovered uncertainly over the page as the huntress tried to work out where to make a mark.

Slowly the tip of the charcoal came down on paper and the girl moved it downwards, bubbling out to the left to form an arc before drawing straight down for a little bit. The drawing utensil made a sound between a squeak and a scratch as it moved that was slightly unpleasant to the ears but the teen blocked it out. Her mark moved in a straight line to the left before going up again to make a shape that should have been the mirror of the other side. It wasn't quite right and even when she joined the tops of the arcs to each other with a curved "v" shape it didn't helped. It did not look like a vinati, not really. She couldn't even manage that. She threw the stick down in frustration and threw her arms in the air.

"I can't do this drawing thing, Drusilla. Does that even look like a vinati to you?" She gestured to the creation that she'd made on paper. A look of frustration graced her features as she regarded her work, which quickly changed to a scowl. The marks were wobbly, uncertain and if the seamstress told her that it looked like what it was supposed to be the Inarta would know that she was lying.

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[Drusilla]

Drusilla nodded, "Sure, here." She rummaged through a drawer of assorted sewing supplies for a tick before finding a measuring tape that would work. With a clawed hand she handed it to Azira. While Drusilla managed to smile thoughts of that dark cave were still in her mind. She had snapped completely in front of somebody. It was a hard recovery to make... "If you ever see one.... With a red scarf or red fabric on his arm, aim to kill. He's hunting for a female who has given him the red scarf for good luck. It's a telltale sign he's out for the Harvest. Not many non-Symenestra know that. Red's an important color in Symenestra culture, our wedding dresses are red too. But marriage is a foreign concept here." "Well..." Drusilla tried to utter without giggling "....No...But you gave it a shot. tried something new. You should be proud of that instead." She moved cutting the gold fabric and then the cream colored fabric. Carefully picking up the needle she began to merge the two cuts into one, making the shirt to this experimental design. She had an idea of what Azira was after, sort of... As she worked on the inseams she thought it over. "I think I have a mental idea of what you want. You're going to think this is dumb, but when you imagine this outfit... What do you see? Explain that to me. Explain the details of the dress. Or if you saw someone wearing it how would you explain it to someone else? Without your feelings it's just a dress. But with your insight, ideas, and feelings it becomes yours. Tell me if you were a dress what would you look like? What feelings would you invoke?" "I know, I know this is stupid. What does any of this have to do with a dress. Is it even a dress." Drusilla said monotone, "But that's what your thinking in your head, if I had a guess." She looked up at the teen, "If it's not something you mind sharing, tell me more about you. What has made you, you?" Drusilla asked still working on the top of this strange project.

[Azira]

A measuring tape pressed into her hand meant that the task was unavoidable. Sure, the measurements would be good to have if she needed something that fitted her right but that didn't mean that she was happy about anyone with knowledge of what the numbers meant would be able to tell her size information. It felt like something that should only be her business not someone else's. Drusilla didn't seem to notice the grimace that flickered across her features, the Symenestra still caught up in giving her information concerning this harvest thing. Perhaps she was trying to frighten the huntress by telling her something that could be out of a scary story. Red scarves showing that a male was hunting for a female, she'd remember that although she was fairly sure that...

"I think we kill male Symenestra on sight. I remember someone telling me something about it. I don't think many Inarta would get much of a chance to look for a red scarf. We'd just shoot. I think I can understand the why behind it now though," the Avora explained. Her eyes flickered from Drusilla to her drawing as she finished speaking and could see the amusement dancing in the spider's eyes although she was obviously trying to keep a straight face. The corners of her mouth were twitching, ready to curve upwards into a smile at any tick she saw. A groan escaped her at the compliments the seamstress tried to give her, trying to turn a negative into a positive. Why did the girl bother when her meaning was clear: Azira couldn't draw.

Then she had the strangest questions fired at her. She stared agape wondering if the woman was pulling some sort of joke on her. No, she seemed serious. She had to laugh. "You want me to tell you what I would look like if I was a dress? Have you been taking Warp or something, you'd have to be to come up with that I think that it was normal." The girl might laugh but it was clear that Drusilla actually wanted an answer. The teen didn't have anything to say to her though, it was too ludicrous a question for her to even consider going about answering it. One that made sense but that the huntress didn't want to reply to was offered next. She fidgeted, suddenly uncomfortable about being near the other woman. The last thing she wanted to do was share.

She shared with you, her mind chimed in unhelpfully, providing her with a feeling of guilt. The seamstress had indeed shared her past and it hadn't been a pleasant one but still there were things that Azira had never told anyone. Well actually there were plenty of things that she'd never told anyone because she hadn't had anyone to tell them to before. She didn't have to tell her everything, she could just tell her some things, right.

"Um... My mother was a glassworker and one day... there was an accident. I was seven. I was there when she died." Her words came out in a whisper, unable to bring herself to voice them any louder. She looked away from the seamstress unable to meet her gaze. If she did, she was sure that she'd start crying. Words came unbidden then, tumbling out before she could censor them. She was in the past, she forgot herself. "I spent some time in the nursery but only for two seasons because I moved into the Yasi Quarter. They knew that there was something... wrong with me. They tortured me for it. Because I wasn't like them. They did terrible things to me. I was scalded with soup once. The entire bowl. No dinner, burned skin. Because I was weird and I was only interested in archery. I was apprenticed when I was eleven but it couldn't have come soon enough. I never talked to any other hunters, only Si'iara and she... she died in the Djed storm and I haven't had anyone, not since."

The girl bit her lip, eyes closing rather than allowing her gaze to remain on the floor. She hadn't meant to say so much but that still wasn't everything. She hadn't mentioned Lorthen and she wasn't going to either. It still left her feeling vulnerable, she'd always used her secrets as armour. If people didn't know that she had been a victim then she couldn't be victimised again. Drusilla had been nothing but kind but yet the young woman expected to be dealt some sort of blow, verbal rather than physical. Her eyes returned to those of the seamstress only briefly before flitting away again. "Is that enough information for you?"

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[Drusilla]

"Yes, it's safer to just shoot them I agree. It was just a little interesting information I thought I'd share. You know a fun fact of sorts. There's another hunt females go on called a Gleaning, they travel and collect information. I think most people thought that was why I came here. But no I am not on a Gleaning." Drusilla said just to make idle chit-chat. Drusilla gave Azira a confused look, "I have no idea what this 'Warp' is, nor do I believe my stomach would let me digest it. I can't eat most of the stuff you can... Like breads and cake. I want to try cake though..." Listening to Azira tugged at her heart. They were in many ways the same. Her mind told her it was a bad idea, in fact it screamed in protest to what Drusilla was going to to. But then again, when had she ever really listened to her head over her heart? There was a good likelihood Azira would freak out over this but, it felt necessary to do. She hugged the teen. Azira was like a volcano just waiting to explode and Drusilla was sure that even a simple hug was capable of doing so. But, this seemed like the only thing to do. "I'm sorry, had I even suspected... I wouldn't of asked.." She pulled away from the hug and looked the teen in the eyes. "There is nothing wrong with you. Petch them for all being the same. You are a beautiful, vibrant young woman who has the fire of a volcano behind her eyes. Never let anyone take that from you!" She felt like an older sister, trying to help her younger see how beautiful she truly was. "I'll alway be here for you if you need to talk, not as Avora to chiet. But as an older sister maybe? I doubt you'll ever see me in such a light, but I somehow see you as a younger."

[Azira]

The Symenestra gave her plenty of reason to doubt her sanity. "Fun" would not have been the word she would have used to describe the fact relating to the Harvest. And yet Drusilla acted as if it had just been a piece of idle chatter along with this thing that she called a Gleaning. Calling it a hunt did not do good things in the girl's mind. Hunt in her mind usually meant kill or capture, which was disturbing. It made the search for information sound more sinister then it probably should have been.

Her joke had been lost on the seamstress it seemed. While she may not indulge in drugs she still was aware of them. Drusilla apparently was not. The confusion had been met with exasperation as she provided a brief explanation of what it was, being certain to make it clear that Warp wasn't food. "It's a drug, not food. It messes with your head, you swallow it though but I don't know if it'd have the same effect on you though but it doesn't matter." It wasn't like it was the first time that someone hadn't understood what she'd said but that didn't mean that it wasn't a little irritating, not that it was the woman's fault for not knowing about Wind Reach's drug scene. She would have thought that she'd been here long enough to at least be aware of it, if not directly involved in it, especially as she was friendly with Dek. They liked to indulge even though it was an expensive habit to have but she didn't know how they managed to afford it.

Her words had spilled out leaving her open to whatever the Symenestra could throw at her. A hug was not in anyway what she was expecting. A strangled sound of fright escaped a lips as she suddenly found herself locked in the grasp of the woman's long arms. It was a shock to find her unexpectedly crushed against the woman's chest, the woman perhaps forgetting in her sudden show of sympathy that she was more likely to suffocate the shorter Inarta woman. As quickly as she'd enveloped her, Drusilla released her grip to gush words of comfort at the teen. It wasn't comforting exactly, a little frightening given the woman's sudden passion but also more than a little awkward. Azira hardly knew this woman and while she had helped her a bit with archery she hadn't exactly been very nice towards her. So why the woman was suddenly being so... protective of her, almost, was a mystery to her. She certainly hadn't earned it and she knew it.

"Um... um, yes." The huntress winced. She couldn't even reply to what the woman had said, her brain couldn't come up with anything better than a stuttered affirmative though what she was saying it to she had no idea. She tried to move on quickly, doing her best to steer the attention away from herself, or at least from her past. "Uh, you had an idea for the dress? A mental one that you could maybe put on paper so that I can see it?" The hopeful, questioning tone together with the way the huntress almost squirmed in front of the Symenestra should be a very clear indication to Drusilla that Azira's new found interest in the dress was a ploy--a bad one--to distract her.

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[Drusilla]

Drusilla could sense Azira's tension and went along with her sudden interest of the dress. "Sorry, I knew that was a bad idea but I rarely listen to myself..." Drusilla had not only embarrassed Azira but herself in the process. "At least you didn't punch me or something.. I was sure that was coming.." She shuffled about her work place, "....Had I been there.. I'd of given you my soup.." It was a side thought that escaped from her mind. It had only come out as a whisperish tone. "What drew you to archery so young? I mean it is an impressive skill, but what really made you focus on it? It doesn't sound like you were forced into it at all, nor did someone decide it was the best option for your life." She shuffled around some more. "That Vinati you're wearing... Would you say it's your favorite one? Because if this is going to have a top half like a vinati. I'd much prefer it to be modeled after your favorite one, as you know the styles for vinati can differ from each other in a multitude of ways. Or if there's a style you like better than the one you're wearing we can use that one. Are vinati comfortable to wear? I can honestly say I don't own one. Fragile bones and bare midriffs rarely go together well..." "And the bottom like a bryda? So kinda flowy and twirly... That could be fun.." Drusilla nodded to herself. I her mind she had an idea she liked but that didn't mean Azira would like it. She'd have to write down some of the ideas Azira had rejected and make them anyway, not for her but to put up for sale to see if there were any takers.

[Azira]

Drusilla didn't exactly drop the subject. She had to draw attention to it again despite Azira's desperate attempt to get her away from the topic. She almost wished that she had punched the Symenestra as it might have put her off sticking her nose in the Avora's business. Softly spoken words that probably weren't meant for her ears reached them anyway. It made the girl shuffle uncomfortably, still unsure why the seamstress had chosen to be kind towards her. It seemed that it was in her nature. There were few people that she'd come across who had been kind to her with no ulterior motives, at least few that she'd perceived as being that way. Drusilla certainly seemed to fall into that category.

The question about archery was an unexpected one. It wasn't in line with what they'd been talking about but obviously the spider had managed to pick up on the most minute detail of her little story. The teen sighed, running a hand through her braids as she considered. "Well... I was never going near glassworking if I could help it, birds and myself don't get on and I don't like making things. It was a focus, a release. It became a way to get back at people without actually hurting anybody. Once I was apprenticed and I got to spend so much time outside it was... better. Calmer." She shrugged. It was the only explanation that the seamstress was going to get. If she wanted to get more out of her than that then she'd quickly realise that it was a waste of breath.

Fingers automatically rose to touch where the vinati's straps tied at the back of her neck. It wasn't her favourite but she supposed that in terms of style it was the one that she'd gotten for years. "It's just a work vinati although I do wear it a lot. I always get the ones that tie behind the neck if that's what you're asking. I don't have to worry about the straps getting in the way somehow, you know?" In the past, she'd had vinati that had straps just over the shoulders and it had driven her mad. The strapless ones that tightened around the middle seemed too risky as she could clearly imagine it coming loose and covering considerably less than it was supposed to so that type was out.

"I suppose that they're comfortable. I haven't really thought about it before but I suppose the fact that I haven't probably means that it is..." Azira smiled sheepishly, the expression brief before slipping into a more neutral one. She certainly came out with some nonsense sometimes. Something the woman had said caught her attention and she found herself scrutinising the woman's frame. Fragile. It was something that she'd noticed before but she'd never considered that it was a racial thing.

"Are your bones really that fragile? I mean, they must be more fragile than ours if you can't risk wearing a vinati but... how easily would they break? Would you have to avoid doing certain things?" Curiosity wasn't something that the girl could rein in but she didn't think that Drusilla would mind. She'd offered up information freely enough already and that was when Azira hadn't even asked her questions. She could only assume that the Chiet would be forthcoming with the answers.

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