Reprieve, open

[Soren Cay]

((Thursday, July 13th, 3572.))

Sometimes, the "constantly travelling" part of the job got to be a little much. Not that Soren didn't appreciate planet-hopping and having some time to herself from time to time as much as the next Venusian, but... well, she was sort of a homebody. All she really wanted to do was curl up next to Nahima and be held for a solid day or two, in the safety of a home they both knew and loved. She wanted that, and the Plutonian had... no interest in it.

But that was alright with her, really. Someday, she'd win the woman she had declared to be her mate. That was the way of her people, after all. Mind you, she'd do it without all of the fancy tricks and such that her sort were known to use. Perhaps with some, you know, actual courtship.

Her brief visits to the other parts of Venus had allowed her to see (and yet, not truly understand) that the rest of the planet was hardly different from the jungles. It was all greed and the urge for the flesh. And, with her newest paycheque cashed in, what was a girl with no home to buy but gifts for her one and only? It would be wrong to do anything but!

After having gotten herself a snack (sweet, like the fruits of her home), she'd gone perusing through the many jewellery shoppes along the strip... only to discover she had no idea what fashion actually was. She wore what was assigned to her, and only that. Even her little floral dress showed too much skin that day, tanned thighs meant to tease and entice. The blonde sighed, sparing a glance at the people in her immediate area. There had to be someone who could help.

"Excuse me," she started, picking the most fashion conscious individual she could find and elegantly jogging the distance between them. Soren was hardly adverse, after all, to making new friends. She'd never been taught not to just approach strangers at random. Probably because she was smiling, friendly, and a tiny bit on the naive side when it came down to it. For all that she was wrapped up in a world of sex and drugs and heaven knew what else... she was not the best at this end of the job. "Do you think I could borrow you for a moment?"

[Amina Venth]

outfit

Amina thought that honestly, today could have gone better. It hadn't gone bad, precisely. Just not good. She bit at her lip in a pout, weighing her remaining options. She'd tried politeness, she'd tried money, she'd tried out and out fear tactics. Nothing. It was so frustrating, the poor little girl needed to get away from that monster. He was a monster, full stop.

Really, it was telling when a little eight year old Martian girl when running towards a dog that was larger than her, wanting protection from the one she called "Daddy". A Martian running towards a dog larger than her. It was a clear sign that the girl needed to get to the Venths now.

Blackmail, it would have to be blackmail now. What did she even have on this one anyway? High class but not as high a class as her family, wealthy enough to afford numerous Martians (meaning there was lots for her to save), but she thought she'd heard whispers of a certain kind of dalliance that while it might not prove odd on Venus, would certainly disrupt his current trading-standings with the Moon. That... could work. She'd need proof, but that could work. Or the fact that he was cooking his books, as found out straight from his secretary's mouth. Might be even better, going after the finances aspect. Stealing from the Regime was frowned on, generally.

She ran a hand down Roshan's ruff (because no matter that his name according to his records was Azurril, he was Roshan to her), fingers tangling in his fur. Really, poor En had run right to him and hugged him. At this point he came up to Amina's shoulder, he was a big dog. Yet a girl who had lived her life around creatures that looked like him but tried to eat her ran up to him and wanted him to save her. That much Amina had heard clearly. "Save En, no Daddy. Daddy hurt En."

Amina growled low in her throat. From a business meeting about the mass-market lines (which had actually gone well, the bright spot of her day) to meeting with that bastard after a romp with Ro instead of lunch (romp was good, her hungry, not so much). She was perhaps a bit testy when a fellow Venusian paused her in her angry strides, only keeping herself to human speeds because she didn't want attention.
"Uh," she paused, bit back any angry snappishness - no need to be rude, so long as she could get - ah! - "So long as in that borrowing I get some food, I suppose not." Roshan sniffed delicately at the girl's hair from a distance, not getting to close because he knew Mama wasn't happy when he made people scared, except that Badman, she'd liked it when he'd scared the Badman.

[Soren Cay]

Another Venusian. Of all the things to snag.

Soren's relationship with her own kind could be described as turbulent, at best. Whilst she appreciated that, when the feelings reminded her of where she came from and why she had to do what she could do, or when they were so tangled up in Nahima that she could scarcely see straight, it didn't necessarily make them her first choice in partner. Nonetheless, this woman and her... rather large dog were going to be her friends for the day. And if she could swing it, maybe she'd work some quickie or another out of this woman to help take the edge off.

"I suppose food could be arranged," she chimed, airy as ever as she delicately pet the woman's dog on his large head, a single eyebrow arched elegantly as her gaze momentarily shifted to him. He seemed polite enough, which meant he... probably wasn't going to make an attempt to eat her. But she wasn't particularly keen on animals, especially not ones like this. Birds, yes. Big wolf-things, no.

She switched then, perking up once more as she swung around and looped her arm through the shorter blonde's (how in the seven hells was she so short?). Switching easily to what she hoped was a more comfortable language for the other woman as well, she picked up language two - that being what the people of Venus spoke on their crowded streets. It wasn't her jungle language, but it was certainly easier than Terrestrial, which she often found a muddled mess of words. Her accent was too thick, and she could ruin syntax like no other. "I'm Soren," she all but purred, cheerily waiting to be led, "And you are?"

If she was lucky, this wouldn't be one of those upper-crust sorts who scoffed and assumed everybody knew their name. She still wasn't sure why the people of her home planet carried such a sense of entitlement. Or how they figured out whom all they were talking to just by glancing at someone. She supposed there had to be some common feature between each family, or maybe the snobs really did take the time to learn each and every family ring.

But from her little corner of the planet, those sorts of things had never really mattered. Nothing so material ever had. Granted, she wasn't exactly allowed back there, now... details.

[Amina Venth]

At the rate she was going, all Amina wanted was food. She didn't care what type of food, just food. Plutonian, hell, even Saturnian barley-bread or a Neptunian kelp-loaf. It would be food. The Venusian looked at Roshan, who was lifting furry eyebrows at the light pat-pat-pat to his head. "Girl odd, Mama. Smell home, really home. Okay petpet, but not Mama or Mommy or Hessy's or Wele's, or their others. Not as good petpet. Smell really of home." Amina clung to her boy's comment that the girl was odd. Not that odd meant bad, since he wasn't reacting with anything but confusion. Just meant her guard wouldn't be going down. Not that it should be going down what with this not being one of her people, so to speak.

Then her arm was seized as the other woman whipped around and she was being spoken to again, in Venusian. At least it was her mother tongue, even if it was her second syntax of the language.
"I'm Amina," She said as they stood in the same spot for a moment, since even for a senshi this was a bit disconcerting. "What did you want to borrow me for anyway? I don't want us to go searching for my food but not be able to help you." There were plenty of food stalls in the area, what with the small park so close by, but if this other woman was after something specific, she didn't want to drag them to one end when they needed to be at the other. She was past being picky about what food she got, so long as it was edible and given to her before she snapped at someone.

[Soren Cay]

Whilst she had no fear of the dog, the girl was a bit... strange. Or maybe she was just entitled. Soren had met many of her own kind who had that air about them. She allowed her dog-petting to give her brief pause, processing. She was supposed to be seeking out some Alliance member or another (as per normal), but she was certainly not above having some fun whilst she was at it.

In truth, she thought that the Regime's dealings in chasing after the Alliance was wasteful at best. It used up resources they could have applied elsewhere. But who was she to speak up? A hired body, and little more. She was hardly a step above a pet, and only because she was still allowed her pride. Soren smiled at the other woman, grateful for the swap in language. Her accent said it wasn't the dialect she was accustomed to - but it was all she knew. "That's a pretty name," she chirped, tilting her head just so before finally removing her hands from the dog's head, withdrawing into herself again.

There was nothing to do but wait to be led, ever the faithful companion in spite of being taller and likely older than her newfound companion. She paused, arms linked and thinking on her question. "I'm not sure," she stated, cheery as ever as she turned green eyes to look at the other blonde, "A gift of some kind. You looked like you would know what to get someone special. But we can get food first, if that suits your fancy."

[Amina Venth]

The "common" courtesy of a complement was just that, "common" on Venus, considered more for the lower class than those of Amina's level. Amina herself loved giving out complements to everyone she saw, just for that reason. It tweaked the others' noses so, since getting a complement meant one had to be returned to the giver. Complements were considered declassé, for reasons Amina still couldn't understand. She liked making people happy by giving them complements (or bugging them if they were of the type it was 'rude' to give one to), and enjoyed getting them in return. Whatever, maybe it was because she was Venus, not just Venusian, or it was because of her parents, or who the hell knew.
"Thank you, your name is pretty too, and Ro likes you, which is a higher complement than anything I could give." Okay, so technically Roshan didn't exactly know what to make of the other Venusian, but he did say she smelled like Venus and he did like that, so it was a half-truth.

Amina thoughtfully eyed the near food cart selling a "Venusian specialty" of bacon-wrapped watermelon. Not a Venusian specialty precisely (though her family had something similar down to a science) but it would do her for the moment.
"Food would very much suit my fancy right now, just give me a moment." The smaller Venusian practically ran up to the waiting vendor, picked her food, paid and returned with two skewers of bacon-wrapped watermelon drizzled in some sort of vinaigrette, two empty bowls, plastic silverware and a bowl of bacon. She sat down on a nearby bench, placing the bowl of bacon down for Roshan to consume.
"Do you want one?" Amina offered, holding out one of the skewers before turning to hers and sliding the two giant chunks of watermelon off, using her knife to cut the bacon-and-melon into easier to eat pieces.
"It's really rather good," she said after swallowing her first bite. "Sorry about the need for food, if I don't eat I get grouchy, and I missed lunch. So is this someone special male or female? What do they like, what do they not like? Those sort of things help with figuring out what to get them." Amina grinned easier now, stomach realizing food was coming and relaxing it's overtight clench.

[Soren Cay]

There was something to be said for living in a forest. Namely, it was that if you did not learn to hunt, you gathered. Given Soren's... dainty nature, it should not have seemed a surprise that she had been a gatherer. Though her lover had hunted, though her parents had as well, she had never acquired a taste for meat. It churned her stomach in a way she had never appreciated. She preferred fruits and sweets, the candy-floss their home planet was renowned for. It was perhaps impolite to scrunch her nose at the sight of bacon, idly allowing her new companion to take the lead, but there was little else she could do.

"Ah, no thank you," she murmured, wafting a hand in the air. Her movements were the same as ever, gliding as opposed to the clear-cut, concise ones of those she'd known her whole life. Everyone around Soren had always been different to her. She had hoped to find common ground now that she had been given the opportunity to speak to someone in her mother tongue.

She'd forgotten that she was still different to other Venusians, too. A solid reminder that she would never belong anywhere but the Regime, she supposed. And if being a pet to the men and women alike who found her a rare and enthralling specimen meant she could spend the remainder of her days with Nahima, then so be it.

She brightened after a moment, hands coming to rest on the tops of her thighs as she grinned in the same way a child might upon being given praise for some accomplishment or another. Her back straightened, her eyes brightened, and she returned to her airy and cheerful state, short tinkling laughter accompanying the shift in her mood. "A female, and a beautiful one at that." It came out lower than she had expected, heart beating faster at the thought of her partner in near-literal crime.

If what they did wasn't ordered by the government itself, it would have been, after all. Thank all deities available that the taller of the blondes had next to no morals to speak of. "To be honest," she began, sticking to the language she knew best out of what they appeared to share, "I'm not entirely certain what she likes. She's very private, and I've been having trouble dreaming up something she might enjoy. She's a very... practical woman, to say the least."

For a moment, her smile faltered, remembering all too well their fight on the New Moon. She pouted, waggling a hand in the air again. "We fight sometimes. She doesn't understand why I love her."

[Amina Venth]

Amina had often gotten teased by her friends about being part-Martian, what with her willingness and almost habit to eat a goodly amount of meat. No other "full" Venusian she knew ate as much meat as she did. It wasn't that she felt like she ate too much meat, especially compared to her Martian siblings. She just ate meat, full stop. Okay, so she preferred fruit and sweets and chocolate to meat, but still, bacon wrapped watermelon, yeah, it was good.

"Okay, but if you want something, let me know, it feels odd to be eating here with you not." Amina said after swallowing her bite of bacon and watermelon. She listened to her fellow Venusian describe the one she wanted a gift for, in as few terms as were given for her to go with. Almost spooky, in a way.
"She sounds much like my mate," It was true: female, beautiful, private, practical, doesn't understand why she's loved. While Amina had some knowledge into the 'private' part because of the bond, Raen still had her secrets. For all she tried and tried and tried again to get Raen to understand how she was loved, it wasn't effective. Raen... even after everything, she still didn't realize. She understood a bit better than she had, but not enough, yet.

"Hmm," She thought about it, mulling the possibilities over in her mind. Practical things, practical things, practical things. A good knife? No, not unless Soren had a very high budget and time, because a custom one would take a lot of time to get made, not to mention be pricy. "Are you thinking more something she could carry with her, or a one-time thing, a special event?" Always a good thing to check on, that. Some people preferred an object to an event, some preferred the memories and being with the other to an object. Amina herself liked both, but preferred the event, simply because it was easier to surprise Raen with that than with a physical gift, a good amount of the time, and with their track-record for physical gifts - she glanced down at the ring on her hand - yes, events were best for the two of them. Didn't know about Soren and her love, it would be a thing to find out.

[Soren Cay]

She considered assuring the other woman she'd be fine, and passed up on the opportunity. She merely smiled, nodded once, and left it at that. Were she absolutely starving, there was always food nearby. Granted, she wasn't known to be the best at finding it, necessarily... but under the care of the White Regime, she'd never come close to losing herself that way. There always seemed to be an abundance of fruit, or other sweet things. Or at the very least, disposable income.

Soren may not have looked as though she had been a part of the upper crust on Venus, but her spending habits would occasionally indicate otherwise.

She perked a bit, an eyebrow raised at the mention of a 'mate' from this other woman. Forest Venusian? She didn't look it. Her eyes were too much like the sky, not like the water or the trees. But then... strange terminology. "Mate?" she teased, giggling faintly, "Sounds very... primal." Mates were a thing of the forest, as far as she may have been concerned. Not that they were unheard of on other planets.

The (likely) older of the two paused, tapping her chin in thought as the topic of her upcoming gift was considered. What would be better? An event, an item... there was always the chance the latter would be thrown away. There was always an even greater chance that Nahi's moods would prevent the former, she decided, settled as she clasped her hands in her lap and grinned. "Probably something for her to have, and keep. She isn't fond of surprises, I don't think, and I'm not entirely sure I could convince her to spend enough time with me right now." Soren paused and then, too hopeful, leaned over to look at her companion. "Any ideas?"

[Amina Venth]

Amina took another bite of her food, the sweet juice of the watermelon melding with salt and the tang of vinegar. Delicious. Utterly delicious, and that was the important thing to her at the moment. Okay, so the fact that it was going into her stomach mattered more than the taste, at this point, but she wasn't to the extreme need of sustenance to the point where she didn't care what it tasted like but would eat it anyway. No, though she was hungry she was able to still be a bit picky: hungry, not starving.

Mate. Ah, hell. She'd said mate, not lady, not love, not even wife. Mate, as in soulmate. While it was true and also was often used in a romantic sense even when there was no bond, it still wouldn't do to be bandying the word about like that.
"Oh, well," Amina smiled and forced up a blush, knowing her previous freakout hadn't been visible in any way, she was too good for that. "Mate as in lifemate. My family, we use that sometimes. Instead of saying wife or husband. Sometimes we run into bigots who still dislike the idea of men with men and women with women, so saying lifemate doesn't identify the gender of our companion." It was all the truth, though within her family the more common word was dai, but Soren didn't need to learn that either. Dai was for her family, including her extended family and Soren certainly wasn't part of that.

Amina popped a watermelon wedge, wincing as she bit down on a too-hard seed. Even in this lifetime, just because it was supposed to be a seedless watermelon didn't mean it completely was. Especially when it was bought from a street vendor, they wouldn't want to worry about the extra credits for a true seedless watermelon. Hastily she spit the seed out into her napkin and folded it in her lap.
"Something for her to have, not a surprise. Hmm," she pulled a bacon strip off the watermelon and held it out for Roshan who delicately took it from her, flipping it up in the air to swallow down nearly whole. He was sitting on her foot, but Amina was used to that and ignored the loss of feeling in the appendage. Heavy pup.

"Does she like to read? Or I suppose if she has any particular hobbies, or likes any certain boardgames like chess, you could always get her good supplies for her hobby or a nice version of the game. There's also the potentially problematic idea of going with clothing or jewelry. They always do like you you picked something out because you thought of them when you saw it, but then if they don't like it they just won't wear it. My mate is more of the surprise event gift-getter, so I apologize if this hasn't helped much." Watermelon juice burst on her tongue again, as there was simply nothing else she could think of.

[Soren Cay]

Blushing? Sounded about right.

Soren couldn't have cared much less as to what explanation the other woman was offering, listening just to be polite. Lifemate, mate this, mate that. It reminded her of home, she admitted. But not the sort of home most held on Venus. She was almost tempted to ask the other woman where, exactly, she had come from, before remembering her accent. No, not the jungle. Then where...

Perhaps she was married to one of theirs. Maybe there were other outcasts like her. "I was merely teasing. Where I come from, it is a common term." Here she batted a hand, as though she cared about alleviating the other woman's apparent embarrassment. It wasn't so much that she didn't care as it was that she had a mission, so to speak. Get in, find the perfect gift, have decent company, and then leave.

She liked Amina well enough, but she wasn't the sort who formed any real connections with people. The few bonds she had were intense and often ended in her heart breaking. It didn't stop her from making them, but it certainly made her think twice about whom she grew close to. A woman off of the streets who knew her mother tongue was a fair candidate, but there were better. Especially given the shocking amount of Alliance members who would have loved to have killed her had they known her profession.

"If I'm being honest, I might say that I'm not the best at discerning what people enjoy. I know things she doesn't like, and she doesn't appear to be materialistic when it comes to things like jewellery. And it just wouldn't be... practical, in our line of work. Very hands-on." She stopped, long enough to glance towards the sky for a moment before shaking her head. "Maybe an event, then, since those are your speciality. Tell me, how do you make some grand gesture for an overly serious girl who hardly has the time to spend on you?"

[Amina Venth]

Considering that Amina wasn't actually embarrassed (okay, maybe a little because that had just been stupid of her to let slip, she knew better!), she took the 'calming' easily.
"Oh, uh, okay, thanks, I was just, well, you know." Not that you would know that she was fairly blasé by what came out of her mouth, but that was called acting. She happened to think that most of the time she was fairly good at it. Or at least decently capable. Whatever.

She had to laugh at the request for a 'grand gesture for an overly serious girl who hardly has the time to spend on you'. Her answer probably wouldn't help much, or at least one of her suggestions clearly wouldn't.
"Ours clearly are too much alike. I proposed to mine during a break at work. I doubt that sort of grand gesture is what you mean, though. You'd probably be better off with surprising her with a picnic with foods from her planet, or maybe her own particular favorites, if she doesn't care for her own planet's cuisine. If you can cook yourself, make them for her, or as much as you can. That's just one suggestion, but how does that sound?" All she could do was try to think of what had worked at least some of the time with Raen. They hadn't gone on any picnics this year. Have to fix that, have a picnic during the school year, or at least surprise her Raen by showing up on campus with lunch for her. Maybe talk to Dura about something for their anniversary, when it came time for that.

[Soren Cay]

She watched her with all the seriousness she could muster. It wasn't that she wanted to have the eyes of a hawk on her maybe-lover and only friend. It was just that that seemed to be her only choice.

Her world didn't give her many opportunities to express herself, or to be anything but perfectly perky. Undeniably happy, in spite of anything and everything. Soren could do this without complaint. It was one of the reasons she was good at her job. She could grin and bear it all, so to speak. Her partner was more the brooding type... not that she didn't like that. It was easier to admire her sometimes, when she was so deep in thought that she didn't even notice the Venusian was there.

That sounded creepy, but she meant it with as much love as it could possibly have been meant. She recognised that it sounded creepy. But... okay. No more justifying that. She kept a smile plastered on her face anyway and refrained from sharing details about how they came from vastly different worlds and were paired up whether or not this grand gesture went over well.

A picnic. Hm. She thought about it, thinking in that moment that it couldn't have been much different than feeding in the wild had been. Settling in the long grass in the heat, taking to the sides of waterfalls or the breezy area beneath vast green canopies for a moment stolen away with your lover and some food. It had certainly been romantic, yes. She perked up, meaning it this time. "That... would be a good idea, yes! Thank you! But..." A flaw. A flaw in this plan was evident, and she wasn't entirely sure how to address it. Her smile faltered just a little bit, a hand coming to her chin before she shrugged. "I've never cooked before, though. Is it difficult?"

[Amina Venth]

On realizing that she had actually said to cook the meals, and knowing the truth of her own picnics (when they weren't slapped together sandwiches, it was either raw steaks or things she gratefully had asked Han to prepare, along with the occasional dinner-leftovers), Amina hastily corrected herself.

"Cooking can be a bit difficult. But not all of it is, and for something like a picnic, there is no reason why you can't go to a restaurant that has cuisine she likes and ask them for takeout. You could use that as the picnic and I'm sure she wouldn't mind. The point is that you thought of thegesture, not that you made the food all yourself. People wouldn't have half as many picnics if they had to make everything themselves." The Venusian grinned up at the other of her planet, finishing off the last of her watermelon. Roshan she fed the last of her bacon. For all that she was hungry, she wasn't entirely all that hungry to ignore the Mama, yum-yum please? he sent to her.

She stretched and shifted in her seat, readying herself for standing. Or readying herself for standing as well as she could with Roshan sitting on her feet.
"I can help you find the good restaurants, depending on what you want for food or her preferred cuisine type. While I can't help you with vegitarian or veganizing the dishes precisely, I can try. How does that sound to you?" Amina didn't quite know what sort of help she would be, but she wanted to see this through to the end, or as far as Soren would allow her to see it through. Never a bad thing, a good love story. Okay, well, Beryl and Endymion, yeah, alright, that was a different story. But still. Considering this sounded much more like "herself and Raen" than "crazy pysco-bitch stalks the man she 'loves' and turns to the embodiment of pure evil when he falls in love with a different woman", there wasn't too much worry about accidentally betting on the wrong horse.

[Soren Cay]

Soren nodded, mentally taking notes. For once in her life, she looked serious instead of whimsical, plotting the details of her upcoming encounter carefully. Didn't need to cook, did need to prepare. Needed to get details right... this was going to take a while. But it would be worth it. She beamed, all sunshine and air once more as she got to her feet, minding the dog with a short pat on top of his head.

Such creatures were not seen where she had lived. He reminded her more of the sorts of monsters they talked about sending to Mars, though those rarely had fur. They seemed to be made more of leather, from the glimpses she had seen. Some lacked eyes, some had more teeth than mouth... they were the things of nightmares, truly. "I have a hard time eating meat myself, but Nahima does just fine with it. I know what sorts of things she enjoys eating," she added, fondly recalling their chat from earlier that month.

Even if it meant that Saturn had had to happen, it also meant that they had become closer. She wouldn't have traded the experience for anything in the world, no matter how unpleasant nearly dying and having a grunting, grinding, not-there-or-truly-conscious Nahima on top of her had been. "She likes hearty things... and ice cream." With that to go off of, she waited for Amina. Hopefully, her fellow Venusian would know some places on Earth through which she could prepare.

It may take a while, but she was going to make a grand romantic gesture. Definitely.