milliways_bar | Teenage Sonya, EP 2

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sonya blade

Teenage Sonya, EP 2

Now that Sonya knows this place isn't part off the academy, when it does show up, she's all for taking advantage of it.

Stretched on the sofa, she's covered a table with a bit of newspaper, painting her toenails with a sparkly, plum colored nail polish. Anything bright or distracting is against academy regulations outside of Sundays, but once and awhile the girls on her floor would share nailpolish for their toenails. After all, who the hell was going to check their feet when they were wearing shoes all the time. The pale blue military blouse is replaced with a purple and red striped t-shirt, her hair held back with a purple headband. As with the nailpolish, both are against uniform regulations, but this is Milliways so she doubts anyone really cares.

Along with painting her nails, she has the headphones to her walkman set over her ears, London Calling playing in her ears. Every so often, her hand or foot jerks to the music, making her curse as she reaches for a tissue to try and rub the polish off her skin. Atleast with the newspaper, she didn't have to worry about making a mess on the table.

She's actually very bother-able at this point, but with the music on, someone may need to get her attention another way.

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Ahsoka is cleaned up and eating her meal (which might be called stew if it had any vegetables in it). She's also sitting by the fire and had been watching the fish until she'd heard the music of Sonya's earbuds; or maybe felt is a better word. Either way, she is now glancing Sonya's way and smiling slightly, as well as looking at her own nails for a moment.

Edited 2015-08-20 20:27 (UTC)

Sonya noticed the..girl..but manners instilled told her not to stare. This was milliways, she reminded herself, there were all sorts.

She does catch her glancing at her, and returns her look with a slight nervous smile. Least, she's pretty sure she's smiling at her. "Uh..hey..."

Her voice is a little loud and for a moment she'd completely forgotten about the headphones. She paused the cassette and pulled them off. "Hey...um..you want me to do your nails or something?"

Only thing she could figure why she was looking at her fingernails.

"Hi," Ahsoka returns just as nervously. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I've never actually painted my nails before."

The last is punctuated with an awkward smile. Padmé had tried to get her to do it before, but Ahsoka had been a jedi then and jedi didn't paint their nails unless it was some cultural thing.

"Not interrupting." Actually, Sonya felt more embarressed to be staring. She'd had enough for that in her own experience. "How come?"

She wondered if she was raised with a strict background or something, or maybe she was raised military. Her own mom wasn't that strict, and her dad didn't seem to think it worth noticing unless they were going someplace professional.

"I used to be part of an Order that was pretty strict about frivolous things. They weren't forbidden but they were frowned upon. Unless there was a purpose to it, such as attending a state gathering or something. Plus, nail paints chip in fights."

"I like your music, too. Assuming it is music?"

"Yeah, it is." She frowned and turned the music lower. "It's The Clash. Someone on my floor lent me the cassette." She didn't know she had it that loud.

"The academy frowns on this sort of thing too, but this isn't the academy so I can get away with it."

Ahsoka raises her eyebrows and says, "And what they don't know won't get you in trouble. I'm Ahsoka Tano. What color do you think would work with my skin?"

Master Yoda always said a jedi had to be open to new ideas.

"I think if they're worried about what color my toenails are, there are bigger issues at hand." Yes, she got that discipline and uniformity where a big part in the army, but this was her in her own time.

She looked at the bottle of polish. "Um, I just have this and a bright red color..maybe the plum would be better?" Though she'd be hard pressed to find any color that didn't clash with her skin tone.

"Oh, I meant I could get a color from Bar." Cue more awkward. "Not that I don't appreciate your offer, it is very generous, I just didn't want to assume."

"Hmm.." She looked up. "Didn't know that. THought Bar only provided things like food."

she wondered if she could borrow any more cassettes while here. Not the same as keeping them of course, but it would be nicer than having to pay or see if the other students had music she was into-or if they'd even let her borrow them.

"Nope. I've seen other people get things to read, or clothes. She even gave me a towel when I first got here, was all messy from cleaning engine compartments."

"I'll take note." She'd done repair work at her uncle's garage after all, she knew how messy a person could get. "In that case...maybe a blue color?"

Blue or red might work, but even she knew that skin that color limited her choices. She knew black girls back home who were always frustrated on the lack of choices for cosmetics.

Brienne sees the girl putting the strange purple paint on her toes. Was this something the ladies here often did? The paint had shiny specks in it, and Brienne thought it pretty.

So would Sansa Stark, very likely. Perhaps if Sansa were here, she'd have befriended other girls?

Brienne doesn't know what headphones are yet, so when she talks to Sonya, she speaks at her usual volume, and says, "Good day."

At first, Sonya doesn't notice when Brienne spoke, the music playing loud in her ears. She's nearly done with the toes of her right foot when she's vaguely aware of someone speaking to her.

She looks up, trying to see if anyone was talking to her, then seeing Brienne. Damn, someone was eating their greens.

"Ugh..hey.." Her voice is a little louder than usual before she realizes she has her headphones on. "Sorry.." She takes them off. "You were saying something?"

"I just said good day," Brienne says. "Do those--" She gestures at the headphones. "Do they dull your hearing?" She doesn't ask in an accusatory tone at all. She's curious. It would be a practical device, to aid in study and concentration.

"I was listening to music, so..yeah." The girl was dressed strangely, but the strangeness of milliways and its patrons is still a learning curve for her. "Okay, I may've had the volume a little loud."

She'd stopped the casette when she took off the headphones, looking at the player to turn down the volume. "One of the girls lent me a cassette of 'the clash' album."

Brienne is in a tunic and breeches provided by Bar. She'd dashed into her door back to her room on the Quiet Isle to grab her purse of coins, then dashed back, scared the door would vanish.

"That plays music?"

...if it's music, why is it called a clash? Brienne is confused.

Sonya did a double take at the girl's clothes: oh, right, milliways.

She set the brush down, screwing the bottle closed so it wouldn't dry up. "Um, yeah...forgot not everyone here's from the same world." This is said more from embarrassment on her part.

"You just put a cassette in here, press this button to get it to play or this one to stop." She handed Brienne the headphones.

Brienne takes the headphones curiously. "London Calling" blares in her ears; it's a shock, unlike anything Brienne's ever heard before, but the lively beat and the words she only half-understands still appeal to her.

She smiles. It's not a thing that happens often, but she smiles--she's always liked music.

"This is...exciting," she says.

She takes the headphones off and hands them back. "I'm Brienne of Tarth," she adds.

The introduction was strange. "Sonya Blade.." She if Tarth was where she lived or a sort of family territory. "And thanks. One off the girls lent me the cassette when I could only hear them on the radio, and even then only on my free time."

And even then there wasn't always the case they might be played on the station. "Um...you want to sit down or something?" Sonya scooted a little to make more room for her on the sofa.

Brienne sits uneasily. She's not used to friendly interactions with other girls. Sonya Blade--wasn't that the name of the woman she'd met already?

Should she say so? But that woman was older. This girl looks younger than Brienne.

Ever honest, Brienne says, "I met someone by the name of Sonya Blade here, yesterday." She thinks it was yesterday. Time is funny here.

She can't resist adding, looking at the nail polish, "That paint is very pretty." Brienne always did enjoy beautiful things.

She frowned. "Yeah..last time I was here..someone said the same thing." Very creep, not something she liked to think about. "Kinda freaky, but I try not to think about it."

The nailpolish was safer to talk about. She looked over at her foot, giving her toes a wiggle: the stuff took five minutes to dry. "Thanks. Not really regulation, but who cares we were shoes all the time."

Brienne says no more of the other Sonya Blade, then. But it's disturbing to her, too. Will she find another Brienne of Tarth here? She hopes not.

"Regulation? You are, ah, in...holy orders? Or in school?"

The only institutions in Brienne's world for women are run by the Faith. Since arriving at Milliways, she's learned of worlds where schools are common, so that's her next guess for a girl Sonya's age.

She tried and failed to keep from laughing. "Holy orders? You're kidding right-I went to a catholic school once, and attend church every sunday, that's as close to religious as I get."

"School...Massanutten military academy if you want specifics." She wasn't sure how it was with others. "No jewelry except for gold or silver ear studs on female students, or medical bracelets for those with allergies. Make up and non regulation clothing is only permitted on Sundays." She smiled. "This shirt's not even part of the uniform, but this isn't part of the academy, so what's it matter."

Oh, another woman warrior! Or, well, girl training to be a warrior, anyway. Brienne looks at her with a little envy. "You're learning to be a soldier?"

Sonya made a face. Not the sort one makes when about to face something disgusting, but the sort of grimace one makes when caught in a 'not quiet a lie'. "Eh..sort of. I mean..I plan on enlisting soon as I graduate, but it's not a requirement. Dad knows I want to enlist and this is his way of compromising-get a taste for military life, see how it goes, and if it doesn't work, then it's still a step toward a good college."

She doubted it would come to that: she couldn't see herself anywhere else but the military.

Brienne nods. "Your father wishes to protect you from fighting? Well--mine did, too."

Lord Selwyn of Tarth had never been happy about Brienne's path.

She looked up at her. "I won't be in fighting, unless I'm lucky enough to be signed up as a medic. Probably the only reason he's even considering letting me enlist is because girls aren't allowed in combat positions." Her voice was resigned: better to have a position than nothing at all.

She looked her over again. Clearly the girl did a lot of work outside. "Want me to do your nails? You can wipe it off before you leave."

"Oh, I see." That's more familiar: women can nurse the wounded, but not fight. "I hope you do, if that's what you wish."

"Oh!" Brienne says to the offer of nail-painting. "I--" It's ridiculous, surely. What is she doing, using cosmetics of any kind? What a jape.

But the plum-colored polish looks so lovely, and the silver specks are unlike anything she's seen, and...

"Yes, if you don't mind and you can spare the paint," Brienne says shyly.

"I wish to feel like my actions mean something." Or atleast feel like she was contributing. She certainly didn't want to feel like she was being given a part just for the sake of being part.

"A dollar, fifty a bottle, yeah, I can spare it." The paint probably wouldn't do much for her, but she knew what it was like to feel left out. If the girls back home made her feel like the odd one out, they would've crucified Brienne soon as they saw her.

"Well--thank you," Brienne says. She holds out a hand, feeling like a fool.

Sonya gave her toes another look over, deciding they looked dry enough for her to move without making a mess. She set herself on the sofa so she could take Brienne's hand. Even she could tel she'd done a lot of fighting, and it was her turn to feel a streak of envy.

Didn't stop her from taking the bottle and unscrewing the brush. "You do a lot of fighting?"

She started on her thumbnail.

The polish smells strong, like old spirits in a disreputable inn--not exactly like, or even very much like, but the closest thing Brienne can think of. She watches as Sonya paints.

"Yes," she says. "I learned how from Ser Goodwin, the master-at-arms, and...since war broke out where I come from, I've been fighting ever since."

It's not a happy duty, nor is it a pretty one, but she wouldn't trade it for a proper lady's life. Nor for anything else.

The smell was a little strong, but Sonya figured so long as they were in an open room like this one and by the fire, neither of them were in danger of getting high.

"But you were surprised at the idea of a female solider?" Sonya was sharper than people gave her credit for. Atleast, in what she allowed herself to be sharp for. "Or were his lessons more clandistine?"

Judging from her hands and clothing, she'd been fighting a long time. Sonya wondered if she'd done something drastic to be allowed to fight.

"I was," says Brienne, "it's near unheard of in my land. Ser Goodwin's lessons were...not clandestine, but I had to pursue them insistently, and they were most unusual. I'm..." She blushes. "Well. Men and women both think me a freak, for what I do. There are places in the Seven Kingdoms--where I come from--where women fight, like Bear Island, but not where I was from."

She sighs. "And Ser Goodwin himself worried I was too soft-hearted for true combat, no matter how strong and skilled I was."

Brienne wasn't too soft-hearted, though. Shagwell and Pyg and Timeon could have attested to that, in their final seconds.

Sonya frowned and looked up at her from her work. "I know the feeling. Some of the girls call me 'jolly green giant' because I'm the tallest one in my class and enjoy playing sports over clothes shopping."

Well, she enjoyed clothes shopping too, she was just always aware of how things made her look too tall or too awkward. Pathetic reasons for mocking someone, but then..girls would find any reason to mock someone.

She went onto the last nail of the hand she was holding. "But, even if you don't join the army, it's still important to learn how to fight. You said a war was going on, well, someone needs to stand by and guard the homefront while the army's away." Even she knew that. "Might not be as part of the army, but I know from some experience that if you see someone needing protection, then the only softness to worry about is how bad you have to pummel a person's face in."

She didn't have to defend her room, thank god, but she didn't like seeing her friends bullied. That sort of thing made her see red and it was easy to forget out any sort of concern over injuring someone.

Brienne watches in fascination as Sonya finishes up with the nails on one hand.

"Truly? Even in a military school, the other girls mock you for preferring sport to clothes?"

How cruel, and how foolish.

"Yes, you're entirely right. It's impossible to even travel from one place to another if you have no skill with a sword, these days. And to see someone set upon, and be unable to protect them...there is nothing worse in the world." Brienne means that.

She shook her head. "The academy's different. There aren't many girls there so it's mostly 'safety in numbers', but I've only been enrolled there for a year and a half. The years before, definitely mocking."

She finished with the nails on her hand. "Okay, this hand done. It takes about five minutes for this to dry, so be careful with what you touch till then."

"It's good you're in a place now where you can be friends with other girls like you." Yes, there's a wistful note in Brienne's voice as she says this.

"Thank you," she adds shyly, offering her other hand. She looks at the painted nails on her first hand with confused pleasure.

"Yeah, now it's just dealing with other sorts of assholes in the class." Her father warned that some of the guys wouldn't be so accepting. His advice to her was to not back down or let them off easy.

She started on the other hand, but what she said next cause her to look up. "You don't have any friends?" Even she had a few of them.

Brienne nods--she knows from assholes.

The question's a sad one, and one that makes her blush.

Who did she have? Lady Catelyn had been a friend, but she was dead. Jaime was...something other than a friend. There was Pod, a 12-year-old boy, and Ser Hyle, who was not a friend.

"Not really," she admits. "There's Pod, the boy who's accompanying me on my journey--we're both looking for the same thing--and there's Ser Hyle, my other traveling companion, who is dishonorable and unkind." She pauses. "He can be useful for all that, though."

That..wasn't just a short list, but a rather pathetic one. Even the times Sonya felt isolated, there were still other people she could talk and hang out with. She opens her mouth to say something, but looking at Brienne's face tells her she's all too aware.

"Well...I think it's awesome learning how to fight with a sword. There's a fencing team at the school, but I'm sure it's not the same thing." You weren't exactly learning to fight to the death in that. "And from a proper knight..so, even if we can't meet all time time-maybe we could be friends."

That Brienne looked the way she did didn't bother her, atleast it didn't once she got used to looking at her. Besides, she knew well enough that even the most drop-dead gorgeous girls could be back stabbing bitches-there was something honest in Brienne that even she could see and appreciate.

Edited 2015-08-28 02:43 (UTC)

Yes, Brienne's aware. Her best friends are a twelve-year-old and a sellsword who made a bet about her virginity. Oh, and a dead woman.

The girl is being kind, and Brienne appreciates it even as she feels ashamed. "I would like that," she says. "I could show you how to use the sword," she offers.

The thought of learning to use a proper broadsword makes her smile..or maybe it's just the thought of showing off to the guys back home...either answer works.

"Awesome." She finishes up with the last hand. "Okay, you're done..just have to wait a few minutes."

The color's an odd clash with the rest off her clothing, but it's an interesting clash. Try as she might, she can't put her foot on why, maybe it was just so girlish compared to her clothing. She wondered if it was like how some models looked masculine even with chunky jewerly on.

"Very well," Brienne says. "Thank you most kindly."

She looks at the nails, and she realizes the sparkling purple clashes with her dull men's garb, but...some small childish part of her likes it anyway.

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Teenage Sonya, EP 2

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