PENNY BARTLETT
Dragon
Posts: 77
Played by:
julia
Last seen Nov 3, 2024 18:33:41 GMT
|
Post by PENNY BARTLETT on Jun 18, 2024 19:54:18 GMT
━ for a dreamer, night's the only time of day ━ IT WASN’T OFTEN THAT THERE WAS SOMETHING Penny couldn’t translate. Other than being old and having a ton of resources at her disposal, she generally didn’t deal with words of any kind. Occasionally, there were inscriptions on gold rings or plaques, but those were rare. Nobody wrote anything on gemstones.
Normally, the aforementioned inscriptions were in a dead language, but this one was not. And unfortunately, it wasn’t common enough. The only person she knew who could speak it, again, unfortunately, was an even bigger bitch than Penny. And that was saying something.
Penny frowned at the golden piece encrusted with several different colours of jewels. It was part of the set they had on display, she knew that much. It was the same style as the arm band, with a jaguar’s face in the centremost piece. Definitely a wearable accessory, and Penny’s guess was: belt. On the inside of the discs that made up the belt were the words. Penny thought she might be able to come up with a new limited-time exhibit if she could get an interesting translation out of it. And perhaps she could even loan it out to other museums if it was good enough. That would get her a nice bonus for sure.
Not that she cared much about things like that, but doing better at her job would award her even further leniency in working odd hours━which was what she wanted.
Her issue, now, was finding that woman. Penny decided she could wait for a bit, walk around town and hope to find her. Mystic Falls was small. It was definitely possible.
Two days later, she finally saw her. Penny was beginning to play with the idea of hiring an outside source, though they would be far more expensive. However, it would save her the headache of dealing with that woman again.
Penny was waiting for her coffee when her faze drifted around the busy shop. She scanned it for the other dragon, and, on a double-take, realized she was heading outside. Penny cursed, practicfally snatching her coffee out of the barista’s hands before bolting out the door. She found the dark-haired woman after a second and darted to her, grabbing her arm to stop her.
“Hi,” She panted like she’d run a mile, though her speech quickly turned normal. “I need you to translate something for me. Well, for the museum. They’ll pay you. And, obviously, you can’t tell your mother.” A wry smile twisted at the edges of her lips.
KATJA DE LA CRUZ | no notes.
|
|
KATJA DE LA CRUZ
Dragon
Posts: 53
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Kit Clarke
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 19:00:56 GMT
|
Post by KATJA DE LA CRUZ on Jul 29, 2024 15:31:33 GMT
”I’ll see you tonight.” Switching to Quechua she’d murmured the kuyaykim against his lips as the hand that she laid along his jaw turned his face up to hers. It didn’t matter what had happened, what they were working to get past, that word was as true as it had been the first time she’d murmured it. She loved him.
Shouldering her bag, Katja walked out of the house. There were still hours before she had to be behind the bar at Campbell’s, but she had errands to run in town. They probably could’ve waited until her day off tomorrow, but it was easier to get it done in one swoop. Shop, get lunch out, drop the bags off at her car before she spent hours serving drinks tonight. A couple of hours at the club after maybe, or just heading back out to meet Kit at the end of her shift. A better routine than the one she’d felt desperate to claw her way free of after Kace had come back. A healthier one.
The first few stops hadn’t taken long. The bank, the pharmacy, a few non-perishables at the grocery store. The easiest tasks crossed off first before she’d lingered at the next stop. Fingers skimming over the samples that hung from rods above the shelves. Cotton, linen, the slick touch of silk, definitely not, not for this anyway. Picking out something with a little colour, one set just plain white. Maybe they’d be brought back the next time she was in town, but carrying the bag out ten minutes later had the weight that had been on her chest for weeks feeling just a little lighter. Little steps forward, like moving through a mine field, hoping not to take a misstep and trigger something that would blow her life apart again. The finish line was in sight, although that was no guarantee there wouldn’t be another somewhere on the other side, just the hope that they’d done enough already to avoid it.
Coffee, she decided as she went to cross the square towards the health store on the other side. Something sweet too maybe, one of those little pastries or a doughnut, although it wouldn’t be near as good as the picarones back home, dripping with honey and spices. Katja frowned faintly up at the board behind the counter as she walked in, picking apart the drink offerings, the ones that seemed to contain far too much to even taste like coffee anymore. Maybe she’d gotten too used to the strong, bitter coffee that had been served in MREs everywhere she’d served. The sort of stuff that tasted like it had been scorched in a pot for months before being shovelled into the little sachets.
”Just black,” she ordered as she reached the counter, ”the biggest you have, and a … bear claw, please.” The names they gave these things still baffled her a little. Was it macho to want to eat something named after an animal that could tear you apart? However they came up with the idea, the filling reminded her just enough of manjar to have her feeling a little nostalgic as she settled at a back table with the coffee and doughnut a few minutes later. Maybe she’d head back to the grocery store, see if they sold manjar blanco here, if not at least evaporated and condensed milk. It would add a little taste of home to dinner on Sunday.
She was already deciding between pionono and alfajores when she sipped the last of her coffee and stood. The pionono would probably last longer. Anything that looked like a cookie in a house with three men would probably vanish before Theo, Freyja and the kids arrived. Most of what else she’d need for it, Frank probably already had. She was pulling her phone though, ready to shoot a message to Kit to ask him to check the cupboards for her.
Katja’s fingers clamped around her phone as a hand closed on her arm, her body tensing and she turned. Her heart thudded in her chest for a moment before she let out a long breath, glad that the heat hadn’t instinctively exploded from her, although the dragon would’ve survived that. She shifted her weight, studying the breathless woman. ”Hi,” she murmured, waiting for the other boot to drop. Her first visit to the museum had been satisfying enough, there hadn’t been any sort of need or desire for a return trip there since, especially since she’d locked heads with the woman the first time around.
The offer spilled out, the one she’d have immediately snatched the woman’s hand off for a few weeks ago. Katja’s brows rose instead, a brief chuckle rolling from her as she shook her head. ”If I was going to bring her wrath down on you, I would have done it before now,” she promised. ”You have something else of hers? Something that wasn’t in the case?” A thin thread of hope ran through her. The arm band had undeniably been Copacati’s, left behind in the rush to flee the village that night. Who knew if anything that had belonged to the village itself, to her father had been found too. ”I thought you were familiar with the area.” Not an accusation, it was spoken lightly, curiosity working its way through her. ”But you don’t speak Quechua.” Understanding left her nodding. ”What’s the pay like?” Probably better than the pay at Campbell’s. It could’ve been a nickel, though, and she’d likely have done it, each small act of rebellion giving her a sense of satisfaction.
|
|
PENNY BARTLETT
Dragon
Posts: 77
Played by:
julia
Last seen Nov 3, 2024 18:33:41 GMT
|
Post by PENNY BARTLETT on Aug 9, 2024 18:43:54 GMT
━ for a dreamer, night's the only time of day ━ PENNY HAD ALREADY ASSUMED AS MUCH. IF THE dragon “goddess” was coming for her, she would’ve shown up long ago. It was part of the reason she’d smirked at the other dragon over the comment about her mother. However, she didn’t like the hopeful tone in the woman’s voice.
“Yes,” Penny nodded firmly, releasing the woman’s arm. “It arrived separately, but I believe they go together.” And could bolster the rest of the exhibit.
She bristled somewhat as the woman pointed out her faults, and while that likely wasn’t how she meant it, it was how Penny felt. “Exactly.” She grumbled, the edge of her lips rising as the subject of payment came up. Terrific. One step closer.
“Fifteen an hour.” Penny said decidedly. It was three dollars higher than minimum wage, and she was happy to negotiate, but the museum would likely prefer to spend less money. However, it’d probably take her a few seconds to translate. “We’ll pay you for a minimum of three hours━cash━or you can remain hired as a language consultant.” As likely the only person who spoke Quechua on this side of the world, she had all the bargaining power, but hopefully she’d have some ‘town pride’ and do it to support her barely-surviving local museum. “If you’re interested in the latter, we can negotiate, but you’ll have to pay taxes on it━and you’ll be an independent contractor.” Which provided no help or guarantees from the museum as far as employment went.
KATJA DE LA CRUZ | no notes.
|
|
KATJA DE LA CRUZ
Dragon
Posts: 53
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Kit Clarke
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 19:00:56 GMT
|
Post by KATJA DE LA CRUZ on Sept 26, 2024 18:52:16 GMT
There was nothing left. Copacati had told her as much as she’d been put to bed in a room that wasn’t hers, swaddled in a t-shirt that had been exchanged for her torn, dirty pyjamas. She hadn’t just meant that the villagers were all dead, the village itself had been razed to the ground by the fight. The rag doll her hatun mama had made for her, the fishing pole they were meant to be trying for the first time the day after, her papa, all gone for good. If there had been anything left, it had looked like the jungle had swallowed it by the time she had gone back, but maybe they had both been wrong.
One of Copacati’s treasures ending up here, overlooked in its glass cabinet by people who had no idea about, or interest in, the Goddess who had once worn it was amusing. Oddly satisfying too in a way. Something of her father’s would be a different matter. The possibility of it was enough to have her throat aching. Katja knew that if it did end up that way, her voice would crack as she begged for it.
”She had a treasure trove,” Katja said hoarsely as the woman released her. ”Dedications to her. Offerings.” A dragon’s hoard if you wanted to call it what it was. The woman who had built her own hoard in the form of the museum’s collection would understand that. ”If one found it’s way here, it’s surprise another might.” The men who had hired the hunters for that night had likely picked Copacati’s cave clean. They had been back there the night she had returned home, their ashes littering the ground by the time she had been done with them.
A fresh start in Lima hadn’t been easy. She hadn’t understood much of the Spanish they spoke instead of Quechua, but with her talent for languages Katja had found herself picking it up quickly, spitting it rapidly back at her classmates. Now, it seemed as though that skill would put some money in her purse. ”Most who live in Peru can’t either,” she reassured the woman as she seemed to bristle at her observation. So many had lost their connection with the old ways, the old language.
The curl of the woman’s lips told her that she hadn’t pissed her off too badly this time at least. She could have said five bucks an hour with that smirk on her lips and she might have said yes for the chance to see something more from her home, but there was enough of Copacati in her to hum contemplatively at the offer of fifteen. ”A consultant?” Katja echoed a moment later. ”You think there’s enough to look at for that?” Probably not, but it wasn’t as though Quechua and Spanish were the only languages she could speak.
Taxes. Aaayyy. The word was enough to make the decision for her. All the paperwork she’d had to sign for the bar had left her brain spinning badly enough. Cash would go straight in her pocket. A simple deal. ”Eighteen an hour,” Katja said quietly. She smiled at the woman. Given how hard it would be to find anybody else here who could translate, it felt cheap. ”And maybe you come find me the next time you need a translator too.” One dark brow rose, daring her to do anything but agree. ”When do you want me to take a look?” Having another excuse to be out of the house was a bonus. It was getting easier to be there, surrounded by the layered echoes of what had happened in its four walls, but she still breathed a little easier when she wasn’t there all day, breathing them in.
|
|
PENNY BARTLETT
Dragon
Posts: 77
Played by:
julia
Last seen Nov 3, 2024 18:33:41 GMT
|
Post by PENNY BARTLETT on Nov 3, 2024 16:16:11 GMT
━ for a dreamer, night's the only time of day ━ WELL, AT LEAST THERE WAS THAT. PEOPLE WHO lived in the country couldn’t speak her dying language, so Penny didn’t have to feel bad about not knowing it. Perhaps she’d get the woman to teach her━actually, that sounded like a terrible idea. First, Penny would have to listen to her, and then she’d essentially be making herself redundant, so why would she teach Penny the language?
“No.” She said simply, a small smirk touching the edge of her lips again. “This could be the last one we have come in, or it could just be the start.” Either way, it was better to take the cash, but, ultimately, it was up to her.
Ah, haggling. Penny thought she’d been fair, but, of course, the woman had all the marbles in this situation. “Fifty bucks total.” She negotiated. It was five dollars more than her original offer, and four dollars less than eighteen an hour. More than fair. It was a specialized skill, sure, but she could scour the internet for someone else. Maybe. “I’ll find you next time if you can do a good job… and if there’s a next time.” Penny raised her brows, then added, “As soon as possible. Are you available now?” It would get it done right away, which meant they could get the exhibit updated by the end of the week, which would be perfect━for her and the museum.
KATJA DE LA CRUZ | wrap here or w yours?
|
|
KATJA DE LA CRUZ
Dragon
Posts: 53
Status:
It's Complicated
Partner:
Kit Clarke
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 16, 2024 19:00:56 GMT
|
Post by KATJA DE LA CRUZ on Nov 16, 2024 18:57:48 GMT
Most of the time she didn’t let her mind slip to what would happen in a century or two, when Copacati finally grew tired of playing at being a Goddess, or … the possibility she tried to think about even less. It didn’t matter that she was immortal, only that she’d already lost her father, a man she’d thought was invincible before she was taught better by the nightmare that had struck in the jungle that night. If she refused to take Copacati’s place, would the Order slip apart? Their worship finally vanishing like the language that had once been spoken throughout the Incan empire. How many would be able to pick apart the past for the dragon then? The thought left Katja’s throat going tight, it wasn’t a life she wanted to consider when she was still working to put back together the pieces of the one she’d been happy in here.
The woman cut off the idea that there would be any more of her people’s past ending up here, but it didn’t entirely kill the idea for her. Considering how far she was from home, those pieces shouldn’t have been here at all. It was a one in a million chance, but maybe thunder did strike twice (wasn’t that what they said here?). Katja hummed lightly, imagining boxes gathering dust in the basement of the museum. Even if there weren’t, she’d have had that chance to touch a part of her family’s past, holding it back from Copacati. ”I’ll guess we’ll see which way it goes in the end.”
Maybe if there was a next time a little friendliness might make it more likely she would get a call. She could’ve taken the first offer, although she doubted it would’ve earned her any more respect from the woman. There was a chance she’d imagined this would end up a battle. Katja considered the offer for a moment – the tiny step forward from what it had been before – and then hummed as she nodded. She offered her a hand. ”You’ve got a deal,” she murmured. Fifty bucks was a good meal out with Kit, a chance for them to head somewhere other than the club, the Diner or Campbell’s. A small step of their own back in towards what they’d had.
”I’ll do one,” Katja said, grinning at the woman. Overconfidence just opened you up to a fall, but in this case she knew what she was doing. She could read every word, every bit of the context that might’ve been lost with some translation software. Digging a hand into her purse, Katja retrieved her phone. She still had a few hours before she had to be at the bar, it would be just enough. ”Si. I’ve got somewhere to be later, but I’ve got enough time now. I’ll follow you over there in the car.” She’d stow the bags in the trunk and later she’d go to the bar with that faint taste of home wrapped around her heart.
|
|