| Participants: | Ciara and Nenienne |
|---|---|
| IC Date: | Month 9, Day 20, Year 03 |
| OOC Date: | 12 September 2011 |
| Location: | Eastern Weyr: Laundry |
| Synopsis: | Ciara is doing laundry when she gets a surprise from Nenienne. |
| Rating: | G |
| Posted by: | Nenienne |
Just below the Lower Hatching Sands, this room radiates heat. Huge pools of water have been reinforced to make cisterns for the laundry. There is a pattern here: drudges place the dirty articles into the first set of pools, scrub them diligently with soapsand and washboards, then move them on to the second set of pools for a rinsing. Crank-powered roller dryers drain all the excess water out, then the clothes are hung to dry in a dry part of the room near the back.
Once the clothes are dry, the long tables along the edges are utilized to fold and secure them into baskets for replacement into the appropriate places. There are a couple benches near the tables for easier access to the tall tables by those not able to reach them alone. Often, these are used by infirm Aunties as well who chatter and gossip incessantly while they fold. Glows are more prevalent here than in the hallways, simply because it's necessary to see if the job's been done right.
The hour is early, the weather hot and humid even before dawn. The laundry room is empty, its workers not up to start the day's jobs yet - save for a solitary gold rider, who appears to be making a start on the laundry. The young woman is scrubbing a shirt in one of the first set of pools, looking very much prepared for the work in a light, sleeveless vest and trousers with permanent stains. She's really going at it, tongue poking out of her mouth slightly as she scrubs at the shirt with gusto.
It's anyone's guess as to why someone bearing no laundry is just walking into the laundry room, but nonetheless Neni is. Seeing Ciara, she quickly turns around, exits, and comes back a few minutes later, bearing a smallish plain but well-made box. Pitching her voice so that it hopefully won't startle the goldrider, Neni calls, "Hello, weyrwoman! I've been looking for you."
Even in the time Neni's gone, Ciara's not moved from the cleaning pool, though she seems to be on the last item given the empty basket to her left and the full one to her right. She's got her head down, scrubbing the last dirty item (a pair of three-quarter-length trousers) when the voice makes her look up, her initial expression surprise that she's being disturbed. She looks even more surprised that it's Nenienne, as opposed to, say, a laundry worker. "Neni! You have? Am I in trouble?" She grins, pulling the trousers out of the pool as she does so and putting them with the other wet stuff. Now she stretches her arms out, her back clicking in a few places. For politeness's sake, she doesn't move away while she watches the crafter as she wonders why she's been sought out.
Nenienne doesn't smile, which is no surprise, but her eyes light up with a plaful mischief. "Huge trouble," she says, her voice matching her eyes, "You see, I finally recovered from having my arm wrenched out, which means you owe me some money." Then she holds out the box and adds, "And I owe you this."
Ciara slaps her hand on her knee, still smiling broadly. "Shoot. I knew you'd catch up with me eventually." She rises, that hand now sliding into her pocket and rooting around. "How much was it again?" She's not reaching to take the box straight away - settling her part of the purchase takes priority for her.
Nenienne names the amount, but also notes in a warm voice, "You'll need to look at it first. I want to make sure it's actually what you wanted."
Ciara pulls out a handful of marks and begins poking at them in her palm to identify the ones needed to hand over to Neni. She pauses in her counting to look at the other, looking bemused for a moment. "Oh! Well, if you insist. I guess I just…I dunno, I'd feel rude if I was looking at it really critically, y'know?" But Neni's offering her the chance, so Ci walks over, taking the box and glancing up at the jewelsmith before she opens the lid to take a look.
The necklace is fairly simple, the focal point being small-to-medium round white pearls. For every ten pearls there is a rondelle of gold inset with tiny pink tourmaline stones. There are six rondelles total, which means the necklace will be slightly longer than a choker.
Ciara's eyes noticeably widen as she gets her first look at the necklace. "Oohhhh." She doesn't touch it - for one thing, her other hand is still clutching that handful of marks, and for another her hands are still damp, and getting the beautiful piece wet seems utterly wrong. "No, it's perfect, Neni! Thank you so much! Ah, let me just…put it…there." Carefully, she puts the box, still open, on the closest table, to free up her hands to count out the appropriate marks and hand them to Neni. "Did it cause you many problems? And how's your arm doing, now?"
Nenienne says, "No problems whatsoever; in fact it was a good way to ease myself back into crafting. My arm is all better, and as far as we can tell, I have my fine motor skills back as well. Thank you for asking."
The relief on Ciara's face is genuine. She slips the remaining marks back into her pocket, and wipes her hands on her trousers to try and get rid of the remaining excess water. "Thank goodness for that. Have you had many more commissions as well?" She reaches for the box to close it, though not before giving the necklace another admiring look, her smile as she looks back at Nenienne grateful, and pleased.
Nenienne nods. "I got one after I was injured, and just recently one now that I'm all better," she notes. Then she adds, "I hope it's glittery enough to make Suosith happy, too."
"Oh good, good." Ciara's pleased with that - and there's a laugh at the hopefulness in regards to Suosith's reaction. "It's glittery /and/ it's pink. I have a feeling she's going to be absolutely delighted," Ci reassures Neni. "Once I've finished up here I'll go and show it to her straight away. I'm hoping to be done before the laundry workers arrive," she adds in a conspiratorial tone. "They insist I shouldn't do my own clothes but sometimes I just need to do something that isn't management stuff, know what I mean?"
Nenienne nods solemnly "Definitely. Plus, that way you can make sure they don't wash your best white tunic with some newly-dyed clothing in hot water, thereby rendering your best white tunic your now "faded puce" tunic."
Ciara looks a mixture of horrified and amused at that, though horrified is winning out. "Oh no- just what you need, right?" She shakes her head, as she carefully slips the box into a deep pocket and goes to pick up her laundry to carry it to the rinsing pool. "I think Suosith would stomp on someone if they messed up my clothes," she adds, amusement in that statement, even as she does sympathise with Neni.
Nenienne ahs, her voice once again playful. "So that's why I need a dragon! To threaten laundry workers with. It all makes sense now." As Ciara heads over to rinse off the clothes, Neni heads off to do whatever it is jewelrycrafters do before breakfast on a workday morning, but not without a cheerful wave to her happy customer.
Ciara's laughter plays a part in her farewell, and once she's got her basket set down she returns the wave, before settling down to continue with her task.
http://www.danburymint.com/jewelry/prod/628/Midnight-Spell-Necklace_0350-0055.aspx, but with white pearls, pink stones, and six gold rhondelles every 10 pearls rather than 12 silver rhondelles every 5 pearls.