learning the ropes (open RP: Ari and some house elves)

[ariemorytwo.livejournal.com]

Ari's prioritized action list:

1. Find a computer and attempt to log into Base One. Could be this 21st-century stuff is all someone's elaborate psych.

Attempt made. Ari wasn't surprised that it availed nothing. But she'd had to try.

2. Find Florian and Catlin.

Easiest thing was to send a message to the Hat asking about them. This took some doing: the messaging system here consisted of a fleet of trained owls. The end result: two wizened little green nonhumans showed up at Ari's door in Sparklypoo. They said their names were Flobby and Caddy. When pressed, they admitted these names were short for Floribunda and Cadwallader. Wrong genders, even, for Florian and Catlin. (House elves did seem to have gender; though, thankfully for human sensibilities, their naked forms did not bear primary or secondary sexual characteristics a human would recognize. A good thing. The elves refused to wear clothing, and seemed to take the very offer of any garment as an outrageous affront.)

Because Ari had described her azi in the message she'd sent -- Florian dark and slight, Catlin blonde and tall -- someone had stuck wigs onto the house elves. (Wigs apparently did not count as clothing.)

"Fine," said Ari. "You're my bodyguards."

They grinned and waved their cattle prods.

3. Get messages offworld.

She was hoping for replies to the inquiries she'd owled to the space programs of the major industrial nations: NASA, Roskosmos, and SBASAF. The freight on messages from any of these was likely to be ... well, astronomical. But -- again, as with the computers -- she'd had to try.

4. Familiarize self with grounds.

This was why she was walking away from the castle. Her house-elf bodyguards were trailing far behind her. Ari had a notebook and a Dictaquill, to which she occasionally spoke a few words.

Comments

[bone-not-rock.livejournal.com]

"And this whole time they told me that I was there because I'd look good in spandex." He winked, clearly joking. "I think being in Sparklypoo makes you cotton candy, to continue with a food analogy. To be a bit blunt, you don't seem like the type."

[ariemorytwo.livejournal.com]

"What type do I seem like?" Ari was eating this up with a spoon.

[bone-not-rock.livejournal.com]

This banter was miles ahead of the "Rough, smooth" line he'd used on Cheryl back in the day. "You seem like the type who would be a truffle decorated in gold, judging by the bodyguards. Too pretty to eat but sweet all the same." His mun is groaning at the cheesiness of that line.

"Types like that would be Ravenclaws or Slytherin. They tend to collect some of the more refined students."

[ariemorytwo.livejournal.com]

Luckily, Ari didn't go for the chin (http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/j/jurassic-park-3-script-screenplay.html). Because when that happens, the only way to truly escape is to use my Raptor Call (http://www.the-editing-room.com/jp3.html) She did, however, smile a smile that would've been alarming to anyone who'd survived the Ari One years. Would've been alarming to Ari Two herself, if she'd had a mirror at hand to catch her reflection.

"By more refined, do you mean the more spoiled students? Or the more moneyed? I assure you, I can get my hands dirty with the best of them." Was that supposed to be double-entendre or snark, Ari? Do you even know? Handsome young men could flux her but good.

And Ari, for the record, falling off a horse doesn't make you outdoorsy.

[bone-not-rock.livejournal.com]

'Well, here's where I admit that 'refined' was a euphemism. It really depends on the house. What you're thinking of is more in line with Slytherin. For Ravenclaw, classy might be a better word. With a side of snobbishness, of course, but there are people in every house that fit that bill."

[ariemorytwo.livejournal.com]

"People seem to have a lot of ego bound up in House identity," Ari observed. "I like Sparklypoo. Not too many people are in it, so it's quiet most of the time." She was used to being isolated.

And she wasn't going to bridle at this very good-looking young man considering her snobbish. She wasn't.