Work? With all these distractions?

[Anonymous]

Jini found it hard to imagine anything that could be large enough to block out the sky, much less a plant, but in the true spirit of curiosity she tried anyway. Such a thing would be breathtaking to see. Really, trust Noora not to bother looking up... She laughed softly again. "That sounds like it gets in the way of more than just the ground, then. But all that life! It must be a humbling sight."

She paused a moment, and frowned slightly. While she'd been concentrating on her work before, she hadn't really been focused on it. She'd kept finding little distractions, errant trains of thought, and she'd been getting quite irritable. Just this short walk had refreshed her a little, she realised, noticing how much easier it was to keep her mind clear. She gave Senka another smile, and another wave for her concerns. "And honestly, I can feel the break doing me good already. So don't worry about that."

[Anonymous]

"It is. It's...awe inspiring to see the Goddess's hand in it all. Such flourishing life. And it's not like that everywhere. There are so many other things too. Just, fields and plains and all different things. Though, I don't know. It still lacks the charm this place has."

It made her relax a little when Jini reassured her, "Great! I'm glad. It must be so fascinating to work on projects for the church. You must get to do some amazing things."

[Anonymous]

"Mm. I think... While the Goddess is everywhere, Her presence can be most keenly felt among Her people. Perhaps that is what's missing?" Jini mused. It had to be strange to be in a place where nobody acknowledged Inima's power.

"Really, it's an honour to be doing holy work, and there's so much wonderful work being done, I can barely keep up with it all!" Visibly more animated, she actually moved her hands and smiled as she spoke, thinking of the inspiring books she'd had the chance to look through during this season's stay at the church. She couldn't talk about all of it, though, or she'd be rambling on all day. "I do think the most interesting is the synergy between different schools of necromancy. Combining powers can give some quite astonishing results."

[Anonymous]

"Really? That has always been an interest of mine. Seeing what the different groups can do together. I've got entropymancy and a bit of raising, but I haven't really done much with exploring what they can do together." Senka leaned a little closer, not realizing she was doing so, talking a little faster, "What are some of the things you have been able to do? Am I allowed to ask? Being able to serve the Goddess like that must be wonderful."

[Anonymous]

"A lot of my work uses a combination of fleshcrafting and raising – extensive modification is a lot easier when you don't have to worry about not killing your specimen, you see. My specialisation requires at least one participant to be dead, anyway, so it was a logical progression," explained Jini, enthusiastic enough herself to remain unfazed by the other woman's eagerness. Unusually for her, she barely even noticed Senka's invasion of her personal space. "And actually, I did hear about a recent project using your kinds of magic, although it was meant for military application so I'm not sure how much I can give away, I'm afraid."

[Anonymous]

"Ah. I missed my calling. I should have gone for the church. That sounds amazing." Senka gave a wistful sigh. She had been too eager too go out into the world and had missed so many opportunities back home.

Her belly chose that moment to give a loud rumble and the necromancer laughed, "Whoops. I apologize for that. It has been some time since breakfast!"

[Anonymous]

"It's not far now," Jini replied with a laugh as they came to the wide road that connected the docks to Suna's largest church. The streets were full of people, milling around the market stalls set up haphazardly along the walls, and it wasn't easy to avoid bumping into them. The big city wasn't exactly her kind of place.

Barely audible above the crowds, a roll of thunder sounded in the sky, as if it was mimicking Senka's stomach. It appeared as if the morning's strong winds had brought a storm across the islands from the ocean, dark clouds billowing in from the east. Clutching her papers protectively to her chest, she shot her companion a nervous grin. "And it looks like we timed it just right, too."

[Anonymous]

Senka looked up at the sky. Storms always made her nervous, it was the wind mostly, that frightened her, though the lightening wasn't much better. She gave a shudder and nodded, "Loots like. Let's get inside. I hate weather like this."

It made her feel so vulnerable, so powerless in the face of such fury. Senka picked up her pace a little, not sure where she was going, but wanting to get there a little faster.

[Anonymous]

"It is quite inconvenient, isn't it?" agreed Jini, matching pace with the other girl. Bad weather didn't usually bother her too much, since she spent so much time inside working, but it was a bother if she needed to venture out for supplies. And right now, of course, she was mostly worried about her papers. All that hard work, washed away... It didn't bear thinking about.

Unfortunately for her, though, it turned out she was right to fret. A droplet of water plopped onto her forehead, trickled down and hovered at the tip of her nose. Trying to cover the top half of her papers with her arms, she glanced skywards and grumbled, "Hmph. It could have given us a little more warning!"

[Anonymous]

Senka gave a small squeal as the rain started pounding down and she made a mad dash for a nearby tavern. She managed to make it into the building before the heavy rain hit, but not before she got quite wet. She shook her head, trying to get her wet bangs out of her face, "Alright, well...maybe we'll just have to settle for where fate has sent us. I'm sure this place...has...lovely...food..."

Looking around her, Senka found she was in some sailor tavern and a number of gruff men were staring at her.

[Anonymous]

Bringing her gaze back down from the sky, Jini noticed Senka already several feet in front of her, charging for the nearest open door. Making a surprised noise in the back of her throat, she broke into a run too, slowed by her hunched over position protecting the papers in her arms. She made it into the building a few seconds after the other girl and took a moment to flick her thumb over the pages, checking that they were still dry enough not to stick together. Phew. They'd survived, at least.

"I think you may be right..." she began, only just looking up at the room's occupants. Ugh. Foreigners, and foreign men at that. They never knew how to behave, and this lot were no better as was clear from the unappealing leers on their faces. Appraising them with a cold eye, she turned back to her much more pleasant companion. "Ignore them. I'm sure they know where they are."

A gentle smile returning to her face, she gestured to a small corner table. "Shall we take a seat, then?"

[Anonymous]

"Oh, I'm sure." Senka headed over to the table Jini gestured to, sliding into the seat. The men's eyes stayed on them, but they didn't seem to be bothering them any. Keeping her back straight, Senka did her best to ignore them.

"Well, I'm glad we managed to miss the worst of that. I hate getting wet. Did your papers survive alright?"

[Anonymous]

"They're all right," Jini nodded, setting the pages down beside her on the table as she sat. "They're not library quality, but then they weren't to begin with!"

Settled comfortably enough into her chair, she glanced around to see who she could ask about food. With a clientele consisting mostly of mainlanders, she doubted it would be very good, but they'd come for lunch and they weren't going elsewhere while the storm raged outside. They'd have to make do.

"Just a couple of stuck-up island bitches!" a nearby sailor commented to his group quite a bit louder than necessary, watching for the women's reaction. Even though she understood only a few words of the sentence, his tone made it obvious enough to Jini that he wasn't being particularly complimentary. She ignored him, however, and signalled the serving boy. Such rudeness didn't deserve a response.

[Anonymous]

Senka on the other hand, wasn't about to ignore them. Turning, she narrowed her pale eyes at the man, her voice icy, "Excuse me? What did you say?"

"I said ya were a couple of stuck-up island bitches!" The man leered, bolstered by his companions presence.

Standing, Senka's power reached out for her brother, his energy flowing into her. Reaching a hand out, she smacked her palm against the man's table, leaving an off colored imprint in the wood. At first nothing happened, then the discoloration spread, until the table suddenly collapsed, rotted through.

"Watch how you speak on this island!"

[Anonymous]

Smirking, Jini craned her head slightly to get a better view of whatever it was Senka was going to do. It wasn't in her nature to directly confront people, but she had to admit she enjoyed it when others did. The woman didn't disappoint either, with a textbook-smooth display of entropymancy. No doubt she would have made it into the church if she'd wanted to with that!

The men's faces, not only on the ones whose table was gone but on almost every other member of the tavern, said everything necessary. They wanted to retaliate... But they knew they shouldn't, for now at least. Still not how men should act, but a vast improvement nonetheless. Jini chuckled then turned her faint smile back to the other woman, the contempt in her expression now gone. "Impressive control. It's hard to believe you've had no formal study."

[Anonymous]

Senka gave the men a dark look before turning back toward the other woman. She wasn't going to tolerate that behavior and if some flashy displays were needed, so be it. Smiling, she gave a small shake of her head, "I was able to pick up enough. Plus, well, I've got an interesting...background."

Her and Zoran had a strange connection that was hard to explain. "Though, I would have loved some formal training."

[Anonymous]

Though Jini was slightly curious as to what in Senka's background was so unusual, she didn't push the point further. If the other woman didn't say any more, she probably wouldn't want to and it was best to leave it. Besides, people were hardly ever as fascinating as they thought they were. Magic was a far more interesting topic, and they'd have time enough to discuss it while the serving boy was preoccupied with sweeping up the sad remains of the table.

"Mm, I'd imagine you'd have benefited from it. I do wonder what advances we've missed without you in the church," she mused, before catching herself with a polite smile. "Although I'm sure you've had a wonderful time on the mainland."

[Anonymous]

"Well, a little too late to wonder now. Besides, I'm sure there are plenty of people much better than I am." She tilted her head, watching Jini, "I'm sure you have some impressive abilities."

When the boy was finished cleaning up the table, he approached the table carefully. He was a native and was more than impressed by the display Senka had put on, "Um...can I get you anything? Ma'ams."

[Anonymous]

"I'm decently powerful," Jini conceded, attempting modesty for once, "But it really is what you do with it that counts." Oh, sheer brute force was all well and good she supposed, but with the kind of innovative thinking the best minds in the church were known for, great things could be achieved with even the most pathetic of abilities. Not that a little extra power didn't help, of course.

Before she could say any more, the serving boy was finally ready for them and she returned his politeness with a smile. Now that was a way to behave. Sad when a mere child could act as a good example for grown men. With a pointed look at the sailors, staring around at each other in stunned silence, she smirked, "I'll have anything you've got that actually has some flavour."

[Anonymous]

"See! I bet you are more than decently powerful. The church wouldn't have you working on important projects if you were't impressive." Senka had never really managed to do that many things with her abilities. The straightforward raising and rotting, as her lack of real training made combining them together.

Jini's order amused Senka, lips curling in a small smile, "What's the spiciest things you have?"

The boy didn't seem pleased when Jini made the slight to the food, but he was smart enough to not say anything. "Um...we have a white fish grilled with a spicy rub. It will knock your socks off." It wasn't the stuff normally served, but the woman didn't seem really like the regular crowd.