lakshmi· ɴᴀᴛᴜʀᴀʟ ᴅɪsᴀsᴛᴇʀ · bai (
shri) wrote in
therookery2018-06-18 12:34 am
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01.
FORM: Sending crystal.
SENDER: Lakshmi Bai
RECIPIENT: Anyone and everyone.
WHAT: Polite requests.
WHEN: After the recent group of rifters arrives back.
WHERE: The Gallows.
NOTES: Tired Queen is tired.
SENDER: Lakshmi Bai
RECIPIENT: Anyone and everyone.
WHAT: Polite requests.
WHEN: After the recent group of rifters arrives back.
WHERE: The Gallows.
NOTES: Tired Queen is tired.
[ There's a little laugh of wonder and then - ] To think I spent all my time hungering after Tesla's machines... [ Clears her throat with the end of that wistful sigh, no time for what-ifs, and she adopts a far more even a tone. Dry, clipped and careful to not muddle her words. Not Tesla's machines, no, but she has heard plenty of poor announcements across radios, to want to make sure that she doesn't do the same. ]
Greetings. I am... Rani Lakshmibai, the, ah.. widower of the King, Maharaja, of Jhansi. [ There's a hesitation, unsure. But like the titles she just gave, she brushes over it quickly. ] I have a request for an individual, who would spend a few hours telling me of this place and its manners, so I might be a better guest of this... Inquisition. I have no more than what I am to receive you, but I can provide honest company in return for yours.
[ pause, and then a moment later. ] And where may I exchange jewels and gold for coin, find a decent cloth merchant and tailor, and whether the weapons the armies here supply are worth the metal they're made from. I prefer a shamsher or talwar, by preference, but any long, heavy blade suffices if its decent enough quality.
no subject
I got two of these an' then all the other smaller stuff.
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But this remarkably like a underdress from the times she had helped the brothel girls ready themselves. She flicks it out, holding it up. Not so different to what she had been given. Those pieces sat in her room, unused. ]
They do not... dress in a way I prefer. [ Obviously. ] But we can manage something, I think. [ She flicks the dress out - with a clatter of bangles around her wrists. ] Was there anything else you were given? A corset? Petticoats, stockings? Or simply this?
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Issat what those are? There's some like... longer tube things? Are those stockings? An' some shoes but I been going barefoot. Dunno what a corset is though.
[ She blinks, peers at the bangles on Lakshmi's wrist and her eyes light up. ]
Oh! Those are pretty! I like them.
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[ Hum, she fixes her mouth thoughtfully, ] - It's a particular undergarment some of the women here wear. I wouldn't suggest it if anyone offers it, it will drive you quite mad. [ She looks down at her wrist. A crow, she must remember, would steal the brightest pebbles out of the garden for who knows what purpose and she laughs. ]
Maybe after we have you dressed we can find you something. [ Her hand drops, folding the dress up in that practised way mothers do by second nature. Folding by halves, tucking by quarters until it's a neatly stacked pile at the foot of the bed. ] Alright, up you get. Let us show you how to sort this out.
[ She fishes for the pile she had thrown away. Small clothes and all. Looking for the socks in particular, and laying them out when she finds them. ]
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Oh yeah. Well. I guess they'll be useful. [ The notion of having her own jewelery makes Myira happy again in an instant, though, and she beams like a small sun. ]
Oh, grand! I'd love to have something like that. [ She pops up to her feet, shedding her cloak as she goes. Tattooed across her upper back, shoulders, and even a little of triceps is a pair of feathered wings. If she had come by this tattoo by the usual means, it would have a been a long, detailed, painful thing with each feather picked out and almost looking as if might flutter or fluff with the breeze. She rolls her shoulders, then crosses her arms across her belly. She watches Lakshmi set out the socks with a curious, avian tilt of her head. ]
...Do stockings go on first?
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Bathing was next on the list. Someone was getting woken up a couple of hours after dawn tomorrow whether they liked it or not. ]
Indeed.
[ She passes them to her, at least glad she didn't have to nag her about getting dressed - and the markings are interesting, to say the least. Casting her eyes over them, and it's not shocking exactly. Her hands were still so darkly stained with the henna of her home. Markings of her own that tinted each finger and swirled up her hands. ] One after the other.
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They feel kinda strange, but I think I'll get used to it. What's next?
[ She casts her eyes over the remaining pile of small clothes, looking uncertain. ]
no subject
This goes under your dresses. It will give you a sight more warmth in the winter. Stops the dress from being too thin. Or immodest, as they might call it.
[ and once she's in it, she works it up her body. Looking for the button to clasp the thing and tugging that little to make sure it was settled properly before doing it up. ] Every woman such as I see wears this manner of under clothes. If a little different.
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Alright! So... Under the dress...
[ She mumbles the last bit, half to herself. Gotta make sure she remembers all of this. ]
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This next. There you go.
[ And - right this was supposed to go before the skirt. ] Forgive me, this isn't exactly how I dress either. This is supposed to go before the skirt. But it does not matter so much, you can tuck it in just the same.
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[ Myira seems amazingly chipper about all this. She wriggles her way into the shift and doesn't bother tucking it into the skirt, instead letting it bunch and flare awkwardly around her hips and waist. ]
...Is there anything else? This is already a lot.
[ She sways a little, watching her skirt move. Clearly this has to be all humans wear normally, right?? ]
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Do you know, that was what I asked the first time I had to dress this way. [ Welcome to why she doesn't. ] No, not yet.
[ Now she reaches for that linen dress. Not so thin now, with the skirts and stockings underneath. Lifting it up to drop it over Myira's head. Tugging it down over and around her. That's a little trickier to get to sit right. Not quite sure how they managed all the layers anymore than she supposed an English woman knew how to fold the pleats of a dupatta.
Fiddling, little by little under the under shift was sitting somehow a little better. Ought to do for now before she stepped around the back to tug at laces, to make it form to her a little better. ]
no subject
[ Myira wrinkles her nose but lets Lakshmi put the dress over her head. She shimmies a little to get it to fall right. This feels like a LOT of layers if you ask her. THere's a faint wheeze as the dress is laced a bit tighter. ]
...Can I just dress like you instead? This seems like a lot of work.
[ Gripe, gripe, gripe. ]
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[ But there, done, - not the worst jobs she could have done. ] I shall make you a deal. Tomorrow we will go to pick you out some light armour. That usually comes with trousers, and I dare say you will be a sight happier in them. [ She steps back, admiring her own effort. She was a sweet-faced thing. Perfectly handsome. ]
But you have to do your best to adjust to this in the meantime.
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...Yeah but yours looks prettier. [ The aesthetic, Lakshmi. The aesthetic. ]
Oh! That sounds nice. I mean, this is okay but it seems like a lot to wear all at once't. [ She swishes the skirts back and forth for a moment, then grins. She just lights up whenever she smiles. Complete, unrestrained happiness. ]
...I might get used to this though, really. Do you think I need armor? That seems like it might be kinda heavier.
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It can be, but I am not about to stick you in full plate. Besides, when I start training you, this won't do.
[ - Because that is what has been decided. Apparently. Without asking. ]
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Training? What are we training?
[ Training is learning and learning is fun! ]
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Riding, knives, how to defend yourself. How to mind yourself around human nobles and commoners alike.
[ The latter Kitty didn't need, but it was a similar sort of itinerary of activities. ]
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[ Myira purses her lips. Those are all things she needs to know if she's going to be human for a while. And Lakshmi seems pretty nice over all. ]
Alright. When do we start?
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[ Get ready Myira, ur gunna hate her. ]