A Staple of the Establishment [Dani/Request]

Today had certainly been a hard grind. The event would cause major disruption all over the colony and while she did look forward to it, Katherine Tennfjord was starting to develop a phobia of paperwork. So many people needed to be fed, given access to bathrooms, watered, moved about in a safe way and with just about everyone off work for a week, things had to be done in advance. None of it her mentor took much interest it, he seemed happy to be plotting something and merely looked over her work before sending her home for the evening. Only a few more days until it would all pay off and even she might get a few days off, she enjoyed events like these while her graying man who closed the door on her clearly did not.

They were high in the upper centre, the part of the colony where the buildings were taller, the architecture more elaborate and there were more flowers, everywhere. Blooming into reds and golds that seemed to shimmer with each breeze. The trickle of water rolling through tiny channels along the main walkways, sweeping away petals towards a small waterfall. Stepping over one with a booted foot she started on the short trip home, the last of the shadowy sun that made those golden flakes all the brighter. It was impossible to suppress a few skips as she cut across a small crowd, an umber belted dress flicking at her knees. A smile on her face, Katherine seemed younger than she was, shorter, skinny, a grown woman should hardly prance. Yet for a few more seconds, it was fine, then it wasn’t.

Moments before coming within sight of home, but two streets away she stopped and started to walk, head held high. Eyes front, respectable, important. Now rather than a child she looked more like a child pretending to be an adult, the best she could muster. Slipping through the glass front gate she crossed the short garden that fell from stacked containers that rose as tall as she was. Each one was perfectly kept, deadheaded and controlled, a garden so perfect it seemed fake, frozen in time with no energy. Alone she hated this garden, it made her feel trapped inside frosty glass walls under geometric stone shadows. The house itself was large, three stories tall with a domed roof, each stone on its face was a hexagon, slotting into place to form a round, silver grey monster of architecture. Inside a heavy wooden door was the central area, adorned with two seating areas of sofas, loungers and cushions along with a large table. All the other rooms spiraled off from here, doors flanking the walls, stairs leading up to a thin mezzanine towards the bedrooms above. Though there were no windows, a tiny ball of light shone out with brilliance from the peak of the dome, down onto the chairs below.

A figure sat at them, one that was clearly feminine and just as clearly not her own mother. Seeing no one else around right now, it was hard to keep that skip away again, though fight she did with a war smile. Sweet, kind and lovely, she cheekily stuck her face into her friends field of view, having taken care to walk as silently as she could on the marble floor. In a voice that seemed impossible to ever hold authority she spoke, “Heya Dani!”  Lifting herself onto the arm on the chair, “Was thy day as enlightening as mine own, as enjoyable as the texture of a silky rose to thy memory?” She was teasing of course, there had been little about her own day of any remark, other than a certain something she wasn’t going to share just yet.

They were close, but a few inches between them, one in the chair, one sat upon the arm. They did not look alike, it would be a farce to assume them related and yet, they were certainly close. There seemed no ill ease between them, at least not to the blonde. Who promptly poked Dani in the cheek with an accompanying, "Boop."

Well... Today had certainly been a long day. Being a soldier was an exhausting job, there was no denying it. "I'm Home!" she said, her voice echoing through the marble halls to anyone who was there, before she took off her jacket, and hung it over a hanger. Whether she got a response from anyone at home or not, she didn't honestly care all that much. The important thing was that they knew that she was home.

Her footsteps echoed over the marble floor as she walked over to a chair, and promptly sat down on it, burying her face in her own hands for a moment. Danielle's stride carried a certain aura of respect and dignity, yet a part of it showed just how tired she really was from work. The fact that she had barely gotten any sleep that night certainly didn't help. Her day had been long, and physically straining, but in the end, rewarding. Speaking of which, Kathy hadn't made it home yet... Usually, Danielle was home much later than her, due to her duties as a Soldier, but around this time every year was an exception. It was like this every year before their birthday really, and Danielle couldn't help but feel bad for her sister and friend, who was probably swamped in paperwork up to her waist by now... Poor girl. Each year, it had always been the same for her. But Katherine never seemed to complain. Ever the hard worker, she had been striving to keep up with her other siblings. That stress and expectation put on her would most certainly break anyone. But not Katherine. She was used to it by now, one would imagine, after growing up with all that. But she had always been the more liked among her siblings over Danielle. Sure, they were used to her by now, but those cold stares her older brothers gave her was something you never really got used to, no matter how you looked at it.

"ACK!" Danielle almost fell out of her chair when Katherine's head popped into her field of view. "Geez! Kathy, don't scare me like that!" The girl said, puffing up her cheeks in annoyance before bursting out laughing. She couldn't keep her stern composure for very long around one of her best friends. "It's been exhausting, if nothing else." She said with a light grunt. "But I shouldn't complain really. I chose this life after all." Indeed, it had been her own choice to become a soldier, and she knew exactly what she was heading into the day she had filled in her application for it... But still, to think she would be this exhausted every day was absurd. Then again... She had seen people getting off duty in waaay worse shape than she was in now, and she had barely had any sleep!

"H-Hey, What was that for?" She asked, before returning the gesture. "Boop"

I am the joyus reaper of scares, where I strike people know me by my smiling vistage and am second only to the great and flexible tickle monster. The grin was self evident, it was certainly nice to once again only have her best friend with no one else around to interrupt. These scares few minutes where she could be as close to herself as she dared with another human being, by far the most comfortable she could be. It also brought a queer joy to hear that not everything was sunshine and roses for her best friend, not that she would be bitter for tales of joy and conquest. Rather this seemed far more validating, both of her success and that even those that found victory over her could have their own troubles in life compared to her own, far more sedate ones.

Recoiling from the boop with such dramatic aplomb Katherine, leapt from the arm rest, twisted in the air and landed on her side against a deceptively deep rug. The mighty force that resided in Dani’s finger was just too strong for her cheek based defence system. Made clear with the use of the best acapella explosion sound effects. So spreading herself out on softness she tilted her chin to her chest and looked up at the purple hair. Suppressing laughter at her own over the topness that made her voice twitch, “You have a week off soon, so, soldier on?!” Flicking up and arm in a terrible mockery of a salute, “Besides is not the military filled with good looking people doing all manner of physical things?”

Pulling up with a swing she shifted into a sitting position. Long had that been something she had highlighted in a joking manner that was only slightly truer when compared to the general population. There were certainly several well kept and dressed young men in the circles she moved in, though far more were far too old. Not that they saw it that way, at least in appearance she was not so much a subject of their attention. Dani however, long the object of desire, in a place where physical fitness was a requirement, close quarters, it seemed far more amiable to all manner of things when compared to a simple office. Basically it must be a certainty that some of these soldiers were worth talking about on a purely academic discussion on physical beauty.  

Right now it seemed best to distract Dani from this tiredness, there’d be no fun otherwise and there was a sever lack of fun today. Despite how it sounded, planning a carnival was akin to sharing a room with a joy sucking vampire called Joysifer, it was just boring. So with a wiggle and a bound upwards she struck forwards an accusatory finger, “What is it you desire Dani Brooks?” Green eyes flaring for a second as blond hair settled around her face.

Katherine looked to the clock on the far wall. It was a complex, beautiful mess of a thing. Glass pipes carried a drip after drip of a golden purple oil that ran through a complex series of pipes and valves. Along the right hand side a series of ornate numbers that glimmered once the tank next to them was full , along the other side were more numbers, hours rather than minutes with larger tanks. It had been something gifted to her grandfather, a work of art that had been there all her life. It was hardly alone in the room, however it was one of the few objects that moved. Most were paintings, hanging from the high walls and looking down into the room, important people, relatives, a few landscapes. Her personal favorite was one that was slightly more garish, four women bathing at the bottom of a steaming waterfall. It was painted from memory by Jacobi Tei, somewhere out there in the outside world, though she doubted the girls were there in real life.

That discounted the various vases, sculptures and very high on the wall, too high to reach on foot, a weapons rack. Swords, spears, each of them ornate as well, gilted with gold and silver. Unlike most of the things here, they were too old, no known maker, lost to time. Maybe they too came from the outside world, her parents didn’t know and didn’t seem to care that much other than the perceived value. The clock, the gold said it was heading into evening, yet it was unlikely that her parents would be home for a few hours. Going out for dinner would be nicer than eating in alone it would seem. If Dani wanted to go out then all the better.

“Then, I need to change,” Flicking her hands over the dull dress that she’d been wearing all day. Starting towards the stairs that lead up onto the mezzanine she turned around and kept going backwards, “In the meantime I need you to think of petty gossip and what you want to eat.” Cupping her hands to her mouth with an elated sigh, “I won’t take too long.”

Once the door was closed the dress and belt fired across the room to land on her bed. The wardrobe she had was extensive, she could easily go a month and not wear the same thing twice and right now, in this waning summer she knew exactly what she wanted. In truth it really did only take a few minutes for her to reappear, resplendent. An orange sari wrapped itself from her waist, over her left shoulder leaving a black strappy top slightly displayed on the right side. The orange silk gave way to brown at the waist before shifting gradient again into a deep purple that fell to her shins in deep folds. Across it stitched stripes of argyle that wrapped around into a spiral around her. On a more, robust woman it might appear somewhat more appealing however to Katherine it screamed summer to her and was light and airy.

Giving herself a spin more showy pumps in the same purple twisted on the marble floor and made the skirt flare, showing some more of her skinny legs. “What is your verdict?” It wasn’t a question about the outfit, she was sure that Dani had seen it a few times before, that’d still be nice however. It was about her earlier order, namely the where.

“I’m ready and you look good,” Katherine swished and swayed as she shepherded towards the door with her left hand, “Though you’ve managed to make even that seem like a uniform, is it really enough to relax in?” Even though it was based on a t-shirt, it was certainly tight, with the stockings to boot. While her own might seem more complex, it was certainly giving her room to breath in and move freely. Then the tummy rumbles, really a soldier should know better. Who knows when you might be lost out in the wild and you’d long for the terrible swill they tried to feed you at the camp. Maybe the food itself was training for exactly that? Well it wasn’t like there was really anyone to fight against, the colony was safe after all. Still it did mean that they should not wait too long. Less one of them die of starvation.

A decision needed to be made, based on distance, food type, amount and time of day, well that was obvious. Clicking her fingers in unison she smiled, “Then Aquatica it is, unless you really have a hankering for that place on Shalaza Row, with the mystery meat." It turned out that farming large animals was both hard and dangerous when you mostly only had a city. Thus meat tended towards the expensive side of things, not that money was really an object when it came to the two of them.

Aquatica was a restaurant that themed itself on the ocean, lots of aquarium tanks and even some fish dishes. The main thing was that even the bowls were carved to look like various fish and the dishes always told their own story with presentation. The clientele tended to be their age and it was a particular favourite of Katherine, their salads had great seasoning and while she was working the soup was nice too, even better when it was colder. Assuming there was no objections she lead them both to the door and locked it after them. It would not be a long walk, still, “So about that gossip?”

“Don’t talk about that one with mother and father around,” Katherine let slip and they walked, “I would rather they forgot about that for as long as possible.” It was a topic that her grandmother was passionate about. Her eldest brother was already married and the other two had girlfriends for quite a while, she however had not really dealt with boys. There was time of course as a problem, competing with her brothers all the time left little down time. There was also the fact that, boys she liked, she wasn’t good enough for, she hadn’t succeed in life. So why would they be happy with her, she surely wouldn’t be happy with them if they hadn’t accomplished something impressive. Long had she imagined a knight in shining armour to pull her away from this life into something better, that was just a childish fantasy she clung to though. Such things did not happen in real life, and there were no knights that were truly so nice.

Putting in an order for Salad and lemon tea Katherine settled into her chair opposite Danielle and seemed to brush away what her parents may or may not desire of her for a moment. There was nothing so deep and meaningful in her own life, young men did not seem to find places where she interacted. They were there of course but rich boys tended to be, spoiled, at least those that she met. Eager to talk about their family, rarely that exciting and all about appearances, imagined and real. Not that she was so very much better than that, she’d hate to be with someone like herself. Dani would not be interested in the marriages of old men or that she’d learn about where their gambling ring took place once a month. There was one thing however, “I heard something, only a rumor,” Making sure to keep it below earshot of anyone other than Dani, “I hear there is a new contract for military rations being awarded.” It meant nothing alone of course, however why now? There might be all sorts of reasons, but maybe.

Not that it mattered, they were in a wondrous place again. Fake fish from the ceiling, blue lights, tanks on the walls with any number of strange looking creatures. Others painted on as great monsters of the depths, many she doubted were real. The furniture was all wood, aged and eclectic, as if it had all been washed up on a desert island. At the bar each stool was a barrel with a cushion. They were at the window, able to see onto the street outside as people wandered past into the deepening evening. There needed to be something happier while they waited, “The festival is going ahead and it’s going to be one of the best in history, it’ll certainly take several years before anything comes even close. Do you have any plans for it yet?” Herself, well actually no, this year unlike last she hadn’t even given it that much thought yet.

"I don't entirely get the week off this time," Someone needed to make sure that the plans were followed during the week after all. But she would be there almost all the time, so she could enjoy a lot of it, maybe more than most people even. Getting in before it opened every day, knowing in advance about all the extras, like fireworks. Placing her head in her hands, leaning on the driftwood table, “I will be very happy, and I am sure everyone will be. Biggest event of the year,” Even with her head in her hands she bounced in her seat, “Remember how much we liked it when we were kids?” It wasn’t so very long ago but it certainly felt it. “I made you ride everything twice in one day, I couldn’t even eat anything the first time we went I was so excited.” That brought up a wash of memories, mostly good, “Or that I wouldn’t go into the haunted house without you and then we got so scared we wouldn’t go deeper in for like, forever!”

Gushing somewhat with a wild grin she giggled to herself, “And when you bought that massive icecream and it started to melt everywhere before you could finish it. Rhonda tried to help you and,” Stupid dull silence for a second, “I just couldn’t stop laughing.” The mask had cracked for a moment, how could she had forgotten that Rhonda had died? She’d gotten sick less than three months later and just suddenly, gone. It was years ago and, she tried to leave it behind. Rhonda was the tall one, funny and saying the oddest things at the oddest times. One of her best friends back then, they both got on with her. Being sad wasn’t allowed and certainly not at a time like this, no, that would not do.

Still smiling as if nothing remotely had happened Katherine kept going, brushing her blonde hair away with her hand, “Should we do something like that this year as well?” They weren’t children any more but, they’d only get older from here. There was also the previous topic to tap back into, “And I’m not worried I won’t find someone, I just don’t want to right now. I have enough to do without having to mess about with smelly boys.” Maybe she wasn’t exactly so grown up.