alonimi
The Ojaria [Open] - Printable Version

+- alonimi (https://alonimi.net)
+-- Forum: Fantasy (https://alonimi.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=70)
+--- Forum: Muskaptilo (https://alonimi.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=81)
+--- Thread: The Ojaria [Open] (/showthread.php?tid=571)

Pages: 1 2


The Ojaria [Open] - Tindome - 11-28-2014

[Image: ojaria.png]

    The ojaria, or oja bar, doesn't see as much use as it once did. Native Muskaptilians are fewer, and immigrants do not always care for oja. But it remains, for the ones who still want it, for the ones who are old enough or have a bit of coin to spare.

    Oja is a gourd, native to Muskaptilo. It is a drink, it is a tea, it is something to burn or something to chew. The gourd can be dried and dyed, turned into a vessel out which the tea can be enjoyed; or else it can be shaved off, turned thin or brittle or into a paste to be consumed. In its natural state, it is extraordinarily bitter; tea is graded on the amount of honey a person prefers to be added to theirs, some enjoying theirs so thick it can barely be sipped through the filtered straw.

    It is not a hallucinogen and it is not addictive, except perhaps in the way that all pleasant things can be addictive. It is relaxing, can be used as a sleep aid or a pain reliever, and some say it makes food taste better. This may only be because the oja itself tastes so awful. Tea from a gourd is common in evenings, and when it is smoked it is usually through a waterpipe, all blown glass and silver. More delicate constitutions prefer it as incense, but that is much less common.

    Fatima Anoja was a dancer, when she was young. She and her mishtara did poetry readings at the ojaria, and they were a marvel to watch. She is older, now, and her mishtara is dead, and she will not dance nor recite without him.

    A gourd of tea is three coppers, a full pipe five, and honey trifles can be had for a copper apiece. There are stools at the counter, but most sit at the short-legged tables that fill the room, embroidered cushions on which to sit that may be rearranged at a whim. There are other kinds of tea, and it was once the most popular way to while away the long and rainy nights, to order a pot of tea and a pipe for the table to chat about nothing for hours.

    A few still do. But the ojaria is as much a hobby as a business, these days, and Fatima is always happy to see her regulars.



The Ojaria [Open] - Tindome - 11-28-2014

It is the middle of the week, midday, and raining.



The Ojaria [Open] - Tindome - 11-28-2014

    Smoking oja was a wonderful way to end the day, but a horrible way to start it. Circe was doing it anyway.

    She'd rather have been sleeping, snuggled up in her quarters on the DragonStar, but Arjun got irritable when she slept away her days. It really was amazing, the things she'd do to please her king. She hadn't gone and become a sky pirate to have to wake up before noon.

    The oja was improving the sleepiness problem not at all, and occasionally she would inhale by yawning, which rightfully ought to have given her coughing fits. She was dressed in mainland finery, the sort of thing that would have fit in better in Akvero than Muskaptilo, all indigo blue and decorated with real gold thread. She'd had the dress tailored short so she could wear it with men's trousers, and she was currently besmirching the dignity of her cape by wrapping it around herself like a blanket. Her boots, so very fine and so very warm, had been left on the rack by the door as was proper.

    "Bet you'd be warmer in wool," Fatima teased, as Circe sipped at mint tea with entirely too much honey.

    "But I would not look even half so pretty, O Learnéd One," she responded, and Fatima snorted. Circe had snatched up all the extra cushions to build herself a nest on which to lounge, settled in so snugly that it was hard to believe that she had plans to ever leave. They could hear the fall of fat raindrops on the stone of the roof, and that, too, threatened to lull dainty Circe back to sleep.



The Ojaria [Open] - megs - 06-23-2015

Priya was typically very good at not leaving her home. It was a comfortable space and self-declared laboratory, and it tended to have everything she needed. Leaving meant not having access to this or that which was required in whatever she was working on at the time. Delving into her dossier of complicated experiments, would result in conversation too long-winded and too full of technical jargon to really hold the attention. Which was fine. Conversation was not Priya's strong suit, though she would gladly offer a list of which alchemical pursuits were.

It was to her great misfortune that her laboratory was currently leaking. The near-constant patter of rain on the roof was easy to ignore, but this was different. This was a single, loud droplet that occurred at precisely three-second intervals. Intervals she could keep time with in her head, and therefore, they were distracting.

She needed to leave. Immediately.

Even though the small leak had proposed no relevant danger, Priya pushed anything of value far from the source, and left a bucket to catch residual droppings. Then, she gathered up her things - things that were appropriate in public. Books, journals, quills, inks. She threw a cloak over her shoulder, gathered everything in her arms, and left the dreadful noise in the house by itself.

The alchemist did not particularly care for smoking oja, but the ojaria was close and if she ordered tea she could usually stay as she pleased.

She pushed back the hood of her cloak and shook out her hair when she entered. It did not take her long to notice that all the cushions had been claimed from the tables. Even less time to see that they'd all been commandeered by the sky pirate King's Navy. Circe was easy to recognize in all that gilded regalia.

Priya tried to keep a noise that was somewhere between a scoff and a huff to herself, but it was hard to do in the relative quiet of the setting. She first found a place at the counter for her things, and then for herself.

"Milk tea, please," she requested, mussing around in her small purse for the proper coinage. Hardly tea at all - mostly goat's milk and honey, but it was sweet and it was warm and usually propelled her through long, chilly nights of studying. Coins would be left on the counter, and a particular tome pulled from the pile to be opened to the spot she'd left off.


The Ojaria [Open] - Tindome - 06-28-2015

    "Of course," Fatima said with a slight incline of her head, standing to make the order. She set a pot of milk to heat with honey and anise and clove, only barely enough tea in the heavy ceramic mug to cover the bottom. Priya did not stop by often, but she did sometimes. Usually when she was stuck on a problem, it seemed to Fatima; when she needed fresh air and a new perspective.

    Problem-solving when Circe was around might be a bit trickier than usual.

    Fatima exchanged the mug for the coin, and left the transaction at that. If she needed smalltalk or a sounding board, Fatima would oblige, but she had a hunch that silence would be preferable.

    Circe was not so considerate. She'd heard very well that little scoff, though she'd continued to puff her oja in contemplative silence, watching the other woman from amidst her cozy nest. They'd both been born on Muskaptilo, unlike so many who lived here now. Which was, admittedly, Circe's fault. Perhaps Priya, like Arjun, would have been perfectly pleased to have their little island die a quiet death. Both had bloodlines leading back to the very beginnings of Muskaptilo. Not like Circe. Genius wasn't in her blood.

    "And what brings you here?" Circe wondered aloud, exhaling smoke with her words as she tipped forward to rest her chin on her hands. "Will your lab not be lonely without you, pretty Priya? If you wanted to see me so badly, you needed only to say." She fluttered her eyelashes for emphasis.



The Ojaria [Open] - megs - 06-29-2015

Priya was polite enough to say thank you, when her drink was received. Anything beyond that - a generous nod or a rare smile - would have been surprising from her. She settled the mug in front of her book, and blew away the steam that rose in lazy trails. She continued to read silently, line after line of complicated formulas and convoluted theories. 

She could only hope that the silence she portrayed would offer her the same in return. She could tolerate noise as it happened around her. Murmured conversations and operating sounds could go largely ignored as she studied and worked. Priya did not read approachable, and that was possibly why Circe prodded her as she did.

The alchemist lifted her head from worn pages when Circe spoke. Even if she had known it was only a matter of time, she felt a flicker of annoyance. Priya fixated her gaze on Fatima, as if the other woman would indulge her exasperated expression.

"And what of the skies?" she returned, closing her book and not answering the question. "Will they not mourn for the absence of their beloved captain?" A calculating gaze would be thrown over her shoulder, and allowed to sweep over the cozy admiral.

"I needn't ask, when I know I can simply find you here." Priya turned her eyes away from Circe and put them back on her tea, before she continued with words that were heavy with sarcasm. "The better to gaze at you longingly from afar, I think."


The Ojaria [Open] - Tindome - 06-30-2015

    Fatima hid the wry curl of her mouth behind her own tea. She didn't think Priya would appreciate her amusement. She was hiding it as much from Circe, because she knew she shouldn't encourage her. Not that Circe was the sort to go too far in her teasing; she'd had years of practice baiting King Mirza, after all.

    "But they are!" Circe answered, and she swept a hand toward the window. It had an additional air of melodrama, because she was still holding her cloak. "Do you not see them weep with the force of their longing?"

    Fatima snorted, then hurried to busy herself with tidying behind the counter as if she were not eavesdropping.

    Circe curled back in on herself, though this time she retrieved her tea, holding it in both hands to provide additional warmth. There was something very nice about holding a mug between both hands. She thought she might like it as much as the actual tea.

    "But how are you to gaze longingly with that book to distract you?" she wondered. "That ink is keeping your gaze from sights far lovelier." This assertion collapsed under its own weight as she suddenly yawned, catlike and wide enough to make her jaw crack. "... or not," she admitted, rubbing a hand over her freckled nose with a slow blink. "I will need to send you a letter the next time I am looking particularly dashing," she decided, "that you may pine for me in earnest." She did not for one moment acknowledge the possibility that Priya was not actually smitten with her, sipping at her tea and not even bothering to look smug.



The Ojaria [Open] - megs - 07-01-2015

Personally, Priya did not see what was so amusing, but that was because she wasn't any fun. Circe seemed determined to draw the fun out of her as if she was just playing hard to get. Even more likely, Circe liked hearing herself speak. She fidgeted with agitation in her stool and clawed fingers through her hair, before they returned to her tea. Tapping noiselessly against the mug.

"Well, I beg you return to them, because your skies are threatening to drown my lab." And you are threatening my research. That particular complaint was left unsaid. Priya need not give the Captain more excuses to tease her, because she could find those on her own. Easier to ignore her when she was quiet. Easier to pretend not to notice pink lips and dusty freckles. Priya did not flirt. Not that she was even sure that this was flirting. Not having a dedicated category for this exchange only made matters worse. Circe was not a fellow researcher, or someone interested in her services, and that was complicated.

She opened her book once more at the mention of ink, as if to emphasize current preferences. The crack of the other woman's jaw could be heard from the bar and Priya smirked into the pages. "That sounds much preferred. Thank you. You must forgive me if I do not respond, however. I was never very good at keeping correspondence."


The Ojaria [Open] - Tindome - 07-05-2015

    "But if it is the rain I have to thank for the pleasure of your company," Circe said, "then why should I ever return? It would make things much easier, pretty Priya, if you would join me sometime. You might even like it." She sipped at her tea, but her eyes continued to smile.

    Priya was, in all likelihood, the most beautiful woman on Muskaptilo. Circe had no lack of confidence, but she was also capable of being objective about some things. Things like eyes the color of oja buds, or hair like color-changing silk. She could recite poetry about Priya's lips. And had, much to Arjun's chagrin, when they'd been young and poetry had seemed like a good idea. She'd had no shortage of lovers since then, almost all of them mainland women, but she still had a soft spot for Priya.

    Even if she was fairly sure that Priya would rather kiss a frog. Only if doing so was likely to teach her something.

    "Shall I deliver you a carpenter?" she suggested. The last member of the Bohu family had died some years ago, and no one had reclaimed the name since; everyone managed well enough on their own, but it was still a concern. "What kind would you like? Tall, dark, and handsome? Or perhaps you would prefer a gentleman fair, all blue eyes and blonde hair and broad shoulders. He'd never fear for burning, when we haven't any sun." These specifications neglected that she would be bringing her a carpenter, and not a husband. "I am sure he will be delighted to tend to your complaints."

    Circe, however, would not. That sounded like the sort of manual labor that she had successfully managed to avoid by becoming a sky pirate instead.

    "I shall send you letters with pressed flowers, then, and you must wear them in your hair with ribbons so I know that you still pine for me." She took a drag from her pipe, inhaling for a frankly astonishing amount of time before letting smoke billow about her face.



The Ojaria [Open] - megs - 07-05-2015

She snorted into her reading, knowing very well that her company was hardly a pleasure. Better at accidentally insulting the intelligence of those around her than making conversation. It was a bit easier with Circe, growing up together gave her benefit of knowing the alchemist wasn't intentionally brash.

Priya would not admit her desire to see the DragonStar, now that Circe had mentioned it first. The ship was a marvel of engineering. The first and likely only airship she would ever see. Brows furrowed as she sipped tea, still facing away from the captain.

"I will get to it," Priya insisted at length. Most likely, she would not, and the leak would continue until her roof fell down upon her. Easier to let it drip, than to invite someone into her home, or through the effort of finding someone to fix it. Despite Circe's offering to find someone for her.

Closing the book she was currently reading, she tucked it under her arm and slipped from the stool. Unclasping her heavy cloak, she left everything, but her tea on the counter as she made her way to the nest that Circe had made with all the pilfered pillows. "It sounds suspiciously like you are matchmaking," she accused, settling herself down next to the other woman. Better to indulge her, Priya felt, than to leave her to her own devices. She tucked her feet beneath her robes, bringing her knees close to her chest. "I've no interest in a husband, let alone one that you would consider for me."

"I will only accept purple or blue flowers with large petals." She set the book on the cushions to her right, and propped it open as if she would continue reading. "I will fashion them into a crown as a declaration of my affection."

It was not entirely a lie. Circe was very good at making those around her fall in love. Despite her shortcomings. Priya had seen it in Arjun, and in others. She had been an apprentice at the time, and Arjun only a librarian. Not a pairing she had been interested in interrupting, not that she would have to. Circe had made it very clear where her preferences lie from that point on.  Since then, Priya had kept an awkward distance from the both of them.


The Ojaria [Open] - Tindome - 07-10-2015

    Circe doubted very much that Priya would ever be moved to leave her work for long enough admire her ship. Particularly not when Circe very clearly had designs upon her implicit in the invitation. Still, it was always worth a try. She could always attempt to make it sound a more academic endeavor. An educational experience, of some kind.

    "Will you?" she wondered. "I did not recall that you were handy with a hammer." Because she almost certainly wasn't. Else she'd have fixed it already, rather than coming to the Ojaria for shelter. After all, there was no shortage of rain on the island.

    She was surprised when the alchemist joined her in her cozy nest, though she hid it behind her tea. She resisted the temptation to snuggle close, as if they were on intimate terms. She had the feeling that would be going a bit too far. "Does it?" She fluttered her eyelashes innocently. "Just because you will not marry him does not mean he cannot entertain you. He would be in your home anyway, after all, so you may as well."

    It was not as if there were many options, husband-wise. It was rare for Circe to meet a man worth taking home, even setting aside her obvious bias. Too loud, too violent, too bossy. A few good scholars might visit, but they never stayed. Was it for the lack of options that Priya would not countenance a husband, or was it something else?

    "I shall bring purple and blue," she decided. "They will be enormous. You will be able to wear no more than three without tipping over. Such is the depth of my desire."

    And she might, at that, if she thought Priya really meant it. The thought of Priya with a lover, even herself, was utterly alien to her. Despite Priya's aspirations at reading, Circe offered her the mouthpiece of her pipe with a raised eyebrow.



The Ojaria [Open] - megs - 07-16-2015

"Oh, and what would you even do with me?" she inquired, pinpointing the words with a delicate sweep of her hand. "If, hypothetically, you convinced me onto that contraption for day?" Whisk her away to some far-off land, no doubt. Try and convince her that there were sights to see outside of her dreary laboratory, and the even drearier island they called home. There was very little need of her particular skill-set on an airship, surely Circe had her own notions on how to pass the time.

"I will," she replied, as unwavering as she had been before. "I'm sure there are quite a few things about me that you do not recall." She wasn't sure, herself, what she had meant by the statement. She could only assume that Circe would find a way to read more into her words than was really in them. Could only hope that time, and distance had left Circe's memory of her a bit foggy. Despite, the fact that the problem would already be solved was obvious to the both of them, did not mean that Priya would allow men to be dropped on her doorstep. 

She had very little interest in them to begin, and they were quite useless otherwise.

"You should know better than most that men are hardly as entertaining as they would like to be."

Priya allowed her gaze to trail from the captain to the mouthpiece she held towards her. With a sigh, she closed her book, and traded her teacup for the offering, because if she was going to allow herself to be distracted, she may as well stop pretending that she wasn't. Because she was full of surprises, today it seemed, already having settled herself quite cozy with Circe. The company of their adventurous pirate queen was making her feel quite bold in return. "Where will you find these magnificent florals?" she challenged, before inhaling on the pipe. "Will you trek through distant jungles, or scour tropical archipelagos to prove this affection?" Smoke trailed her words, before she pursed her lips to exhale the rest of it.


The Ojaria [Open] - Tindome - 08-06-2015

    "That is a very dangerous question," Circe said with a grin, "because I can think of all manner of things that I would like to do with you. But I suppose that asking dangerous questions is your job, isn't it?" Priya's mind would make her a danger even if she were not so astonishingly gorgeous. And she was, without a doubt, astonishingly gorgeous. Together those things made her deadly. Literally as well as metaphorically. "Ah, but let me think. You are so hard to seduce, when everything you want is in your lab. I might need to steal your lab to entice you. You know, there is an alchemist's guild in Akvero? I do not care for them, because none of them are as pretty as you. But maybe you could steal their secrets, if they've any secrets worth stealing."

    Circe knew not a damned thing about alchemy, except that sometimes the results were lovely and sometimes they exploded, and sometimes there were lovely explosions. Akvero's alchemists specialized in fireworks and forgeries, neither of which seemed like the sorts of things that would interest Priya. Circe simply did not know enough to say for sure.

    "How could I possibly, pretty Priya, when you are so unforgettable?" Circe fluttered her eyelashes again, as if she had thought of no one else in all her years away and back and away again. This despite how easily falsifiable a claim it was, having brought home no shortage of lovers both current and former. "There are so few men here, I cannot imagine who has been trying to entertain you." Those men she brought were usually more interested in the books than the women, and that was intentional on her part. "Never say Arjun tried to kiss you in my absence," she teased, a curl to her mouth. The thought of Arjun trying to entertain anyone was amusing all on its own.

    "Hmm." She watched smoke curl away from Priya's lips, and wondered how angry she would be if Circe kissed her. They were pursed so perfectly, after all. "I would ask Nadra," she said, "where to find the finest flowers. And she would tell me that her flowers were the finest, and be very angry with me for needing to ask. But, eventually, she would tell me where to find these flowers that I seek. They could grow on the very moon itself, and I would fly there for you, though it would pain me to leave you for so long."



RE: The Ojaria [Open] - megs - 11-17-2015

Priya frowned, realizing the multitude of ways her statement could be misconstrued before Circe replied, and she did reply just as Priya had expected. Her frown deepened which was, admittedly, impressive given the already dreadful state of her downturned mouth. She'd had no time to correct herself, so she allowed the other woman to speak as she would. Her surprise was obvious when Circe mused that she was difficult to seduce, her brows disappeared behind her bangs and she tried not to wonder if Circe had legitimately been trying to do so.

And if she would like her to do so.

An alchemist's guild was an intriguing enough concept, not that she would tell Circe. Priya's absence of chatter was quickly filled with more flattery that she assumed was empty banter, because Circe did so like to seem clever. She rolled her eyes and puffed at the oja, convinced that the sky captain just liked to hear herself talk.

"I do not need to be entertained," Priya insisted. "I am very busy." She said it more like a mantra than an actual fact. Not as busy as she could have been - should have been. Refusing to admit that her lab had lost some of its appeal, to say aloud that she missed her friends. There had only ever been the two of them, Circe and Arjun, and somewhere beneath the ways they annoyed her there were pieces worth missing.

She snorted. "I can count the number of times I've seen Arjun since your last departure on one hand." Her tone somehow implied that this was entirely Arjun's doing, ignoring the fact that she was just as terrible at being sociable as he.

Priya was not a quick with a retort as she was usually known to be. She had gone notably still, and was very thankful that she was not prone to blushing. When she noticed that her stunned silence was likely all Circe needed to think that she had bested the alchemist, Priya cleared her throat and pushed the mouthpiece back into the pirate's hands as if to distract her from taking notice. "You are an awful flirt, Circe," Priya accused, retrieving her mug, now cold and forgotten. "Do not think for a moment that I do not know the games you play to keep yourself amused."


RE: The Ojaria [Open] - Tindome - 03-10-2016

    Circe was grinning, quite convinced that Priya's apparent displeasure was nothing more than an attempt to hide the truth: that Circe was hilarious. But it was also fun even if she wasn't. Like prodding a tiger.

    Circe had interesting definitions of fun.

    "Really?" Circe was surprised, at that. Hadn't they always been… not inseparable, exactly. But they had been together so often, the three of them, and they had always enjoyed each other's company. She thought they had, anyway. Though in retrospect, both Arjun and Priya alike had a tendency to lose themselves in their work, and Circe had always been forced to interrupt.

    "I see," she said, sounding very pleased with her own deductive powers. "You both lost track of time working. You did not even notice how long I had been gone, I'm sure, busy as you've been. It must be a terrible shock to you, to see how tall I have gotten."

    Circe had not grown taller since her thirteenth year, and they both knew it.

    Her grin only widened at Priya's brief stunned appearance. "Aha!" she said, even as she took the mouthpiece. "Flowers are your weakness, then," she said triumphantly, utterly misinterpreting what had just taken place. "I must bring you armfuls of them, on my next return, and you will be so overwhelmed you will have no choice but to kiss me."

    "I am a fantastic flirt," she countered. "The very best. And if I play well, I am not the only one amused. But I would never dream of trying to outsmart you, pretty Priya."