Closed [Kat] Snowflakes

[Oryani]

Winter 69th, 513 AV

The members of the Darkeye pavilion had been huddled in one tent for a full day. As in twenty-four bells. And though they were quite the friendly family, tensions arose when they were all stuck together. Oryani herself was in worse condition than anyone else. She was huddled with her blanket wrapped tight around her, trying to avoid any cold if possible. It was snowing outside. Snowing! It was terrible! Her mother was in a similar state, though… without the extra annoyance added on. The younger Chatakwe, from some combination of the cold, maybe something in the air, and being stuck inside all day… had woken up sick. It wasn’t like the coughs of last season, but she had a minor fever, and a stuffy nose. A very stuffy nose.

The archer stared blankly into the fire, lacking the will to sit up, move around, and so forth. The rest of her pavilion was puttering around, trying to stretch, chatting to each other, and so forth. Someone had supplied her with a cup of tea, which she was attempting to breath in to clear her nose. It was hard to hold a mug and a blanket around you at the same time. The blanket kept slipping, and she’d have to put down the cup, and re-adjust the thick cloth. However… the tea was worth it. It was too hot to drink, but she was still loving the warmth that radiated into her hands from simply holding the cup.

Oryani’s eyes drifted lazily, eying everyone she could actually see. Her mother, chatting with the oldest woman in the pavilion from her own thick cocoon. The Ankal was attempting to avoid pokes from his son, scolding the teenager, but it was obvious it was all fun and games. Considering she was near the middle of the tent, as close to the fire as possible, she couldn’t see Kalikar and Kat… they were somewhere out of her range of vision. Though she was curious to see what they were spending their time with, it took too much effort to turn around… She’d have to move from such a comfortable spot. With a small sigh, she breathed in some of the hot steam from her tea, using her mouth rather than her nose. The latter was so clogged up she couldn’t breathe. Though she’d been told to breath in the steam with her nose… she was starting to doubt if that was possible.

OOCSorry for the short-ish intro 

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[Katerina Deveraux]

Day 69, Season Winter, 513 AV

Tension was something Kat knew very well. Between her brother and herself, they were known for the kind of arguments that made others cringe and crawl away. But the tension currently tugging at Kat’s mind wasn’t just one solid problem. There were several that twisted around her mind and left her in a sour mood, no better than the rest of the pavilion by the looks of it. Being trapped in the tent for a whole day certainly didn’t help with Kat’s own mood either of course. Kat had been used to snow in Syliras, but never like this… at least not to the point where she couldn’t sneak out.

Several of the other ‘slaves’ were pregnant already, and it nagged at the back of Kat’s mind—just how long would it be before it was expected of her. There wasn't pressure amongst the pavilion, but she knew her purpose. She was more surprised she was actually allowed to avoid it for the time being. For the most part Fall had been severely simple for her. She hadn’t done much—just learned a little Pavi and trying to figure out just what to do with herself. For the first time in her life she wanted to actually have a job… something to do with her time. And Kat knew she had several choices—though at the moment she was actually interested in following Kalikar’s calling. Pottery had quickly become something of an outlet for her.

But even as she learned more about the pavilion and all its members, she couldn’t help but be slightly wary. She worried there would be a point where it wouldn’t be allowed anymore. It nagged constantly at the back of her mind and some days it was worse than others… today was one of those days. And then there was the whole concept of her brother—she hadn’t stopped worrying completely for him since his… purposeful ‘accident’. His frame of mind was fraying and the strain of winter made it worse. He seemed better the last time she saw him, but it was impossible to tell with him sometimes. She spent years watching him be ‘just fine’.

Kalikar must have sensed her mind wasn’t even in the pavilion. The offer of clay and a lesson had caught her attention, but it certainly didn’t keep it. She had apologized several times already—in both common and Pavi (to her best ability)—every time her mind drifted off. He seemed fairly patient but Kat just gave him a small smile, patting his hand and telling him it wasn’t his fault. Actually she had wanted to see how Oryani was. She heard from Kalikar that she had woken up ill… apparently it wasn’t terribly uncommon for the girl.

Flopping down in a rather unlady like way next to Oryani, Kat spared her a glance, taking in her form. She looked rather miserable, not that Kat could really blame her. ”Hello Oryani.” The hand signal was a little choppy, considering her hands were busy with the lump of clay still in her hands. But at least her spoken was getting a little better. But for the most part she was still terrible with the language itself. ”Stupid question but… how are you feeling?” Kat raised a brow at the girl. She was sure she probably answered that question a million times today already. But she did like Oryani, so it only figured that she’d ask.

[Oryani]

Oryani glanced over to see Kat sit beside her. Conversation... lovely. She wasn't sure if she was in the mood for that or not, but she was certainly bored... maybe this would help relieve the feeling. The greeting she was given was in Pavi, but the rest of the question was in Common. She left a few of the un-important words behind in her mental translation, coming up with 'question' and 'how are you'... feeling? It might have been feeling. Or... knowing. Was it knowing? But it was certainly a how are you question, so the first word would work. It wasn't exactly discreet that she had a cold.

She mused over the question for a moment, staring into her cup of tea and watching it swirl slowly in a circle. Finally, she pieced together a careful statement. "Eugh" she groaned, using a simple noise to explain her condition. It was hard - nearly impossible - to describe it in words... and noises traveled over language barriers, so Kat would understand her feelings no matter if she spoke Pavi or not. It was a basic, honest, expression.

"Cold..." she finally muttered in Common, shiverring slightly. Her hands felt like they were going numb from the warmth of the tea, but the rest of her... she did not like the cold. Ever. At all. It was a terrible, horrible thing, the cold. Why couldn't the Drykas actually go into Ekytol during the Winter? It would solve so many problems... and create a whole horde of new ones. But nothing worse than a full on snowstorm, right? She still had mixed feelings about this, but was determined to wish that the world was a little warmer than it usually was. Especially in Winter.

She sighed quietly, trying to shrug the blanket further up her shoulders... and failing. Actually, it fell to the floor in a heap, leaving the Chatakwe colder than ever. With a grumble, she set down the marvelously warm mug, and picked up the covering, re-wrapping it so some was lodged under her arm. This restricted the movement of her elbows, however, and she awkwardly picked the tea back up in her hands.

"You?" she asked simply, turning her head to glance over at the other woman. Her eyes were tired, and nose slightly redder than her usual skin coloring. Right after she said it, an badly-timed yawn hit her, and she spent the next few ticks trying to recover from that... then yawning again. And again. She really was tired. When the fourth one came, she shook her head slightly and forced her jaws closed, trying to shove the yawn down... if that was even possible. It went away, though it was still tempting to take in another huge breath of air.

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[Katerina Deveraux]

On any normal given day, Kat might have really thought it through. That perhaps poor Oryani wasn’t in the mood for talk. Who was when they felt like she did? But it was so much harder to notice in the mood she was in. It was a common state of mind she ended up in even back at home in Syliras. Usually the only one that broke her out of her own mind was her little sister—granted she was only a few chimes older than Lea, the poor girl usually ended up being the one called the ‘baby’ sister in the family.

Kat didn’t even entirely consider that Oryani wouldn’t be able to understand her either. It was quite frustrating at times as well, not being able to converse with most people well. There were a few who could understand her, but the ones she wanted to connect with—it just wasn’t working like she would have preferred. Of course just added on par to her entirely sour mood and Kat couldn’t help but let out a stressed sigh, twisting the clay in her hands much like Kalikar had showed her—many times already. Kat pressed the clay into a round ball, wiggling her fingers into the middle.

Kat however nodded at Oryani’s single word. It was cold—though it was probably much worse for her than the rest of them. But even Kat felt as though she couldn’t get warm. No amount of tea or resting by a fire warmed her and Kat partially wondered if that was because of her current train of thoughts, especially over her brother, or if it really was that petching cold. "Well…" Kat sighed out, before shaking her head slightly. There wasn’t much she could say without actually upsetting her.

She was sorely tempted to try and help the poor girl though when her blanket slipped from her shoulders. However even in Kat’s state of mind, she knew it probably wasn’t the best suggestion. Oryani wasn’t a little girl—or her sister—and even Lea hated to be fussed over when she was sick. Kat herself pretty much stuck to herself save for her brother’s medicine visits. But she was usually unruly and quite mean while she was sick, so it was understandable. If nothing else Oryani had a better disposition that she did.

At Oryani’s question Kat looked away from the girl and right back to the clay in her hands. In some ways it was a loaded question; in others she wasn’t sure if she should even bother answering. After all Oryani didn’t have much common, and Kat did not have much Pavi… most of the words would be lost in translation. Though Oryani had probably heard of her brother’s ‘accident’—and that wasn’t something to try and shift through with the language barrier. But she had been the one to sit down next to her and try and carry a conversation with her.

Sliding her fingers along the side of the small clay ball, she tried her best to lengthen the sides into actual walls without poking a hole through the bottom. Thus far she didn’t actually have much luck as her fingers tended to be quite clumsy in the process. "Lots to think about…" It was clearly an understatement, but Kat wasn’t sure where to go with the next set of words. For a chime or so she was just silent before muttering low. "My brother…" She wasn’t even entirely sure Oryani heard her considering her cold.

"Is there anything I can do for you? I know you’re probably exhausted." She hoped the girl wouldn’t take the words the wrong way, but it was the only thing she could ask—despite knowing better.

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[Oryani]

OOCEr... what did happen to Nat? And so sorry for the delay!

Oryani was relieved that Kat didn't want to coddle over her like Jyomica usually tried. Though the older woman was a little harsher in her coddling... if she thought the Chatakwe needed another blanket, she'd simply drop it on the archer's head and bluntly say to wear it. However, Oryani didn't mind this... she actually preferred it to some of the soft stuff she'd seen. Drykas weren't soft, though some could be... it was kind of sickening, on occasion.

Thinking about it, Kat actually fit in with the Drykas quite well, compared to some of the others she'd seen and heard about. But that wasn't the point at the moment... currently, she was still cold. She listened to Katerina talk about her own thoughts for a moment, in Common rather than Pavi. Though the Chatakwe didn't understand half the words in the first statement, she got 'many' (or something like that) and 'think'. So Kat had a lot on her mind? That was interesting... she would have liked to ask, though the language barrier was particularly annoying. However, the next two words she did understand, and they narrowed things down a little... though it was still confusing.

"Nathan?" she asked, vaguely worried... as much as she held a grudge against the man, if Kat was worrying about him... she should too, probably. The last - long - statement just went as a blur, but Oryani got the tone. The usual 'do you want this?' tone. Just in case it wasn't exactly that, she just replied bluntly "I am good." She wondered if she should teach the woman a little more Pavi, for the fun of it... 'I am good', or 'fine' was quite an easy statement to learn... though generally went with a plethora of hand signs to explain what kind of good it was.

After a few more moments of silence and staring into her cup of tea, a distraction came that caused the archer to scowl. Yetrian plopped himself down - grinning foolishly - in front of the fire. "Soooo, dear sister! How are you fairing in the deep winter cold? Are your spots freezing up?" He put on a mock pout that made the Chatakwe growl. The 'spots' he mentioned were those on her hands, the ones that sensed movement, which were currently useless since she couldn't focus for the life of her. "Go away" she hissed, sorely tempted to splash the tea on him... but no, that would mean loosing such a nice drink, and wasting the herbs that had made it.

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[Katerina Deveraux]

It wasn’t unusual for rumors to spread in Syliras. People didn’t have to know someone else to talk about them. Her father had been one of those people actually, the hunter that had gotten himself killed and just left a family without someone to care for them. Kat half expected the same thing to happen here, when Nate had purposely tried to... well kill himself. His depression had been eating at him for some time she knew, but Kat had never considered that her brother would try something so drastic.

Oryani seemed confused as Kat brought up her brother. She figured it wouldn’t be wide spread news, but apparently Kalikar was much better at keeping a secret than she thought. She had asked him not to spread word of what her brother had done, but honestly she hadn’t expected him to keep it. It actually did quite a bit for her view of the man—not that she didn’t like him to begin with—but considering everything he had done for her thus far Kat figured eventually something had to drop. Then again it might have been likely he only told his brother—the rest of the family didn’t exactly need to know.

Still it was a difficult subject to brooch given the history between Oryani and Nate. It wasn’t a secret that the two of them didn’t exactly get along. "Nathan..." Kat sighed roughly as she tried to think of the word Kalikar had used in Pavi. ”H-ert...h-hurt?” Kat frowned as she twisted the clay between her fingers right back into a clay ball as one side ripped as she applied too much pressure. It was sorely tempting to just throw the clay, but rationally that wasn’t going to improve her pottery work. "Hurt himself." Kat finally mumbled in common, unsure if her Pavi had been correct, and she certainly did not remember the hand sign to go with it.

Nate did not do well cooped up inside. The snow made her worry what he might try to do during his depression and she dearly hoped that Arundel was keeping an eye on him. Deciding to take a break from the standard bowl, Kat simply flattened the bowl and twisted her fingers around the clay until she could see the imprint of her own hand. She had been spending far too much time thinking about how her whole family ended up here, and it was easy for her to blame herself. Luckily most of the blame had passed, but the worry had not. In the very least Oryani didn’t feel half as bad as she looked—though if Kat took a guess she was probably lying about it.

Before Kat could say anything otherwise however, Yetrian dropped down in front of the fire as well and began to pester his sister. At least she thought it was pestering—Oryani did not look pleased in the least. Kat could barely make out the Pavi word for ‘away’, and she tilted her head slightly. The two of them reminded her of her relationship with her brother. Biting her bottom lip to keep a grin from spreading, Kat looked back down at the clay and rolled it back into a ball and pressed into the middle. Practice made perfect... or at least that was what Nate told her.

OOCSorry for the shorter length of post~

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[Oryani]

Oryani frowned as Kat explained Nathan's situation. The woman tried to say 'Hurt' in Pavi but failed, and Oryani added a quiet "Hurt?" in correction. Hurt wasn't good. Hurt... her...him...him...self? He hurt himself? That could go in a lot of other directions.

Yetrian came and annoyed her, but her attention was more focused on her chills, her stuffed nose, and Kat's comments. She craned her head over to frown at the woman, before asking "He fell?" she asked, as in that kind of 'hurt himself'. "Lion?" Another option. "He... good... now?" It took her a moment to remember the last word, but got it eventually. Common was so annoying... If Kat spoke at least Tawna, or something like that...

"Who fell?" Yetrian inquired, bouncing in his seat. This earned him a glare. "Nathan" was Oryani's sharp reply, eyes staring daggers at her brother. If he'd only leave... but she hadn't expected him to on her first request. "Oooh... Kat's brother, right?"

"Yes. He didn't exactly fall, he... I'm working that out."

"Want my help? I'm better at Common than -

"No."

"Right. Fine."

The Chatakwe scowled again and turned away from her brother to refocus her attention on Kat. "Nathan hurt himself?" she repeated slowly, so the woman would understand the meaning in Pavi. It was meant as a prodding to figure out the answer... something she wanted to do on her own (as she'd told Yetrian) despite the annoyance of actually speaking.

OOCShort? That's not short! This is much shorter.

- Pavi - Common -

[Katerina Deveraux]

Kat hummed slightly as Oryani corrected her Pavi, but she nodded in agreement over the corrected word. Even as her brother appeared, Oryani seemed intent on at least understanding what she was trying to tell her. She peaked around Yetrian, asking if he had fallen or if perhaps maybe a lion had gotten a hold of him. All were plausible explanations given that her brother was a hunter. He wasn’t exactly great on a horse and already once he had met up with a lion--with Oryani at that. Really Kat had hoped she would have understood the first time and she wouldn’t have to try and explain further.

It was a ridiculous notion actually, considering the language barrier to begin with. Huffing slightly, Kat leaned forward herself. ”Yes.” Kat added a hand sign along with the singular word of Pavi… at least she thought it was the correct sign. Her brother was technically alright now, at least physically. It had was much harder to tell mentally when she never thought her brother would attempt suicide in the first place. After the loss of their father and their mother, Kat would have figured her brother to be one of the stronger figures in her life. She never felt so wrong in her whole life.

Yetrian asked something in Pavi and Kat looked back down at the clay in her hands. The bowl had ripped again from her lack of focus and Kat almost decided to just give up on the whole idea of taking up Kalikar’s trade. Her fingers felt clumsy and more often than not she could barely get out a proper looking bowl. Once again Kat folded the bowl in on itself and rolled it between her fingers slowly to form a ball yet again. The two of them were still speaking in Pavi--Oryani looking a little miffed at her brother--and Kat shook her head slightly.

After several ticks however Kat realized that the last bit of Pavi Oryani had spoken were actually directed at her rather than her brother. Blinking, Kat did her best to put the short sentence together. Her brother’s name was obvious of course, and the word hurt was easily picked out as well considering Oryani had just pronounced it correctly for her. The only word she didn’t know was ‘himself’, but it was the only word that actually made sense seeing as Oryani had picked it up in common. After a chime Kat sighed and nodded. How was she to explain this one considering she didn’t know enough Pavi words to properly explain?

Pursing her lips slightly, looking away from two. Kat got the feeling suicide wasn’t actually something all that common here. She knew several of the slaves had attempted to run off--a few succeding--but Nate… Carefully she placed the clay down in front of her as if it was glass and used the index finger of her left hand to drag it across her wrist, repeating the motion several times before sighing again. ”Knife.” She didn’t have a knife to ‘demonstrate’, but it was likely Oryani picked up the word easily enough--at least she hoped. ”... on purpose. Not...” Kat frowned after a moment before trying another word in Pavi. ”Ax-i-dint?” She frowned before shaking her head again. ”Acc-ident?”

Picking up the clay once again, Kat flattened it between her palms before she glanced back up at Oryani in an almost shy fashion. Discussing her brother’s ‘attempt’ wasn’t terribly uncomfortable, but it would probably shift the girl’s already unfavored view of her brother further.

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[Oryani]

After Oryani's re-statement of the question, Kat came up with a more (though possibly less) logical answer. The Drykas knew what 'knife' was in Common, and... purpose? On... purpose? Not an accident, apparently, from Kat's butchering of the work. "Accident" she corrected quietly, but her mind was elsewhere. Her lips had turned into a confused frown, not yet understanding the statement... though that had nothing to do with the language difference. However, as she finally worked it out, her brows knit together into a scowl.

Nathan had tried to hurt himself? Kat had motioned at her wrists... he'd tried to slash his wrists? The Chatakwe stared at her friend in shock. "What?" she demanded in surprise, mouth gaping a little. Nathan had tried to hurt himself... she couldn't get over it. Why was her only thought. He was annoying sure, but despite all his faults... the man wasn't stupid. She knew that well enough. He was careful and observant, something that was usually supposed to keep you alive... People who were good at staying alive didn't try to hurt themselves. It didn't make sense!

"Why?" she demanded this time, forgetting that Kat knew little Pavi. The bewilderment, anger, and irritation showed on her face. She tried to persuade herself that she didn't really care about his health, more that it would have hurt Kat more than anything if he'd died or something. She wasn't about to agree to herself that she actually worried about the idiotic man... especially after this thing. He'd earned some respect in her mind, until...

"Why?" she repeated, this time in Common, in a calmer voice. She let out a huge breath, eyes drifting back to her tea, and the archer remembered how sick she was. Oryani snorted through her stuffed nose, which made an odd sound, and tried to sip the hot drink... maybe that would calm her down. It was still to hot for her tastes, and burnt her tongue a little, but... it made her feel better. Again she sighed, relaxed, and shifted her position a bit.

Of course, someone behind her demanded - equally surprised - "Really? Did he try to kill himself, or...? That's... that's wrong." Yetrian's voice held a little more sympathy than the Chatakwe's first had, but he was equally surprised. Oryani's scowl returned as the glared over her shoulder at her brother. "I told you to go away idiot! Can't you ever leave?!" It took her some self restraint to not start full out yelling, reminding herself that this wasn't helping. It wasn't just her brother that set her off, though. The built up irritation of her cold, plus the surprising new about Nathan, plus that had filled her with a fuming rage that she really, really wanted to let out. But letting it out usually meant yelling.

- Pavi - Common -

[Katerina Deveraux]

Kat was correct when she guessed how badly she butchered the word ‘accident’ in Pavi. Oryani herself seemed rather confused in general, correcting her word but frowning in the process. Kat wasn’t sure she got the idea as to what she was hinting at. Was there even a delicate way to say -- “Nate purposely cut his wrists in an attempt to kill himself”? But then she supposed that was the clearest way to say it, if Common was well known around here anyways. She had no idea how to say such a complex statement in Pavi, so unfortunately that left Oryani up to the task of figuring out herself… with a cold wracking her senses in the first place.

As Kat made the motion over her wrists, it seemed Oryani finally got the hint. She spit out a word of surprise--that Kat suspected might have been ‘what’ in Pavi--as her jaw dropped just enough to leave her gaping. Kat couldn’t help but wince a little. Yes this was what she had been aiming to tell her the whole time, but now that the information was settling in--it really did sound bad regardless of the circumstances. There was no excuse she could come up with to explain why her brother would pull such a stunt… she barely knew herself. He was avoiding the subject altogether every time she went to check up on him, but she knew the general reason.

The next word out of Oryani’s mouth didn’t make sense and Kat felt her eyebrows furrow slightly in confusion. The clay she had been twisting around her fingers was temporarily forgotten as she tried to make out the word. The emotions clouding her voice however were not so foreign… especially the irritation. As far as Kat knew the two of them really didn’t get along, so it only added to her confusion as well. Granted she knew well enough Oryani didn’t wish pain on her or her brother, but the pieces themselves simply didn’t add up either. Luckily she was spared trying to figure that out as Oryani repeated why in Common. Lovely… how did she explain this to her? Heaving a sigh, Kat decided almost instantly that the best way was to probably just tell the truth… as far as she knew it anyways.

"My fault." Kat tapped her chest to emphasis the meaning. "I..." She didn’t know the words in Pavi, and she wasn’t sure Oryani knew enough common to get the meaning across. Of course her brother was sitting right next to her… clearly as shocked by the fact that Nate had tried to kill himself as Oryani was. Only he was able to express his words in Common well enough. However Oryani simply seemed annoyed by her brother’s presence and Kat didn’t have the heart to ask him to translate and annoy Oryani further. So instead she tried to plunge ahead with the best explanation she could give without confusing the poor girl further.

"I got us… captured. Caught by Drykas. Nate chose to come with… because he felt responsible. But he hates it here. I don’t why he chose now to try this but… I don’t know if he might do it again." It was likely the sick girl didn’t pick up most of it, but it really was the most basic response she could think of. There was a whole slew of indications that her brother threw at her in his temper tantrum, like the fact that his sisters didn’t need him… so why should he stay? But that seemed long winded and at this point it was more a personal problem than anything else.

Sighing softly, Kat looked away and shrugged. "I hope someone has an eye on him." It was mostly muttered to herself as though she wasn’t sitting around a fire with two others.

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