tehilim127_1: (Default)
Zivia "Cecilia" Birnbaum ([personal profile] tehilim127_1) wrote in [community profile] ph_logs2024-05-19 10:44 pm

[OPEN] a beautiful day, don't let it get away

Who: Zivia ([personal profile] tehilim127_1) & all comers (with prompts for Lev, Anzu, Ava, Dahlia, Tayrey, Degas)
What: Things resume after the flood
When: Late May and early June
Where: At work (Town Hall), at the beach, at the grocery, at an impasse
Warning(s): To be added as relevant

1. you love this town

Somehow -- magically? miraculously? Zivia feels like either of those could apply, and like neither is safe to use carelessly -- somehow the island and the town have been barely damaged by the floodwaters. Neither the plants nor the animals nor the works of human hands are any worse for wear than they might be after a heavy rain.

This does mean more work at Town Hall, as Zivia and Fever empty all the file drawers to make sure there's no water damage anywhere, and then have to put everything back. And simultaneously have to be available to answer any questions anyone has, though they agree to take turns being on call while all of that's going on. Maybe you'll show up with a question while it's Zivia's turn to address it? Or maybe, sometime during this month, you'll encounter Fever at Town Hall's booth at the job fair, and decide to follow up by inquiring within.

2. reach me, i know i'm not a hopeless case

One nice thing about living here, Zivia will readily admit, is being within walking distance of a beach.

She's out for a walk on the shoreline, some days after the end of the flood, feet bare in the sand and shoes tucked into a bag slung over her shoulder. As a wave recedes, a glint of silver catches her eye, and she breaks into a brief jog to get closer before the water comes in again.

Anyone who happens to be nearby at the time will see her drop into an unsteady crouch to pick it up, then press one hand over her mouth as though to keep from crying out in shock -- or maybe just to keep from crying.

3. see the bird with a leaf in her mouth

It is so good, after even that brief time spent scrounging things on board ship, to be able to walk into a shop and purchase things again. Whole wheat flour, honey, salt, oil, a form of yeast she isn't familiar with but is nonetheless confident she can figure out; dried spices, fresh herbs, a basket full of vegetables and fruit in season; a beautiful fillet of salmon, which she hurries home to stow in the icebox directly next to the ice. Milk, eggs, butter. A few bottles of wine, after some conversation with the shopkeeper not too dissimilar from the one she had with Dahlia on board the cursed ship.

She considers, briefly, giving Dahlia a bottle of wine in return, and discards that idea. Instead, Dahlia -- and a few other people around town who've been especially helpful in the last month or so, including Ava Starr, Arilanna Tayrey, Wilson Higgsbury, and Degas Clayton -- will receive a small loaf of home-baked braided bread by way of appreciation and thanks.

(Feel free to run into Zivia doing her grocery shopping, or to meet her delivering challah, whether to you or to someone else!)

4. after the flood all the colors came out (for Lev/Lyubov and Anzu)

One thing she can't buy anywhere here, she already knows, is kosher meat. Which leads to her picking up the sending stone to contact Anzu and Rov Morgenshtern, and asking if either of them knows how to perform shechita; the soaking and salting part she can do, she assures them, but she's never done that part.

And the thing is, she explains, she'd really like to be able to serve chicken if they would like to join her for Shabbos dinner, this or next Friday night.

5. it was a beautiful day

Wildcard!
preacher_in_reticence: playby: Waleed Zuaiter (Sad - Wistful)

See the bird...

[personal profile] preacher_in_reticence 2024-05-21 12:19 am (UTC)(link)
Zivia finds Degas at home, on a quiet afternoon. He opens the door, sees her, and unconsciously sort of...smooths his hands down his waistcoat as if trying to be sure he's presentable.

"Would you care to come inside?"
preacher_in_reticence: playby: Waleed Zuaiter (Happy - Amused)

[personal profile] preacher_in_reticence 2024-05-21 05:43 am (UTC)(link)
He accepts, and looks under the napkin as if to double-check what he's being handed isn't a living creature (look, it happens sometimes). Seeing bread, his eyes light up.

"I might insist on breaking out a jar of jam and sharing some of this with you. Or marmalade, if you prefer?"
astrogator: (pic#16123135)

3.

[personal profile] astrogator 2024-05-21 07:26 pm (UTC)(link)
It's a pleasant surprise for Tayrey to find Zivia all the way out at her house for a visit, and she's eagerly invited in. Tayrey's place, at the end of rural Prosperity Lane, is a compact house, but elegant in the symmetry, and the white-pillared portico is what drew her to it. Inside, it's extremely minimalist, all surfaces clear, no clutter. The decor is more floral and fussy than one would expect of the young lieutenant: patterned wallpapers and rugs. She simply hasn't been able to replace them yet.

It's all very neighbourly until Zivia offers her gift, and then Tayrey takes on an awkward, disconcerted expression. 'Citizen...' she starts, hesitantly, 'did I ever tell you about the principle of fair contract among my people?'
preacher_in_reticence: playby: Waleed Zuaiter (Neutral - Thinking)

[personal profile] preacher_in_reticence 2024-05-22 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
"Well, come in. We can try all of those in combination and pick favorites." He gestures her inside, where...

...there's something stagnant about the home. Not literal dust (though there's a decent amount of that too), but the decor suggests a woman's touch, as if Degas hasn't changed a single thing about his home since Melly died. Embroidery samplers on display, floral pillows on a loveseat in the living room. There are no covers on the mirrors, but this house still feels like one where shiva is being sat.
decohere: (Default)

3.

[personal profile] decohere 2024-05-22 09:48 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh, this looks good," Ava comments as she accepts the loaf. "What's the occasion?"
astrogator: (pic#15928588)

[personal profile] astrogator 2024-05-22 12:52 pm (UTC)(link)
'Partly.' Tayrey's trouble is that she knows enough to suspect that people from other universes will continue to react badly to the norms of her own, but not enough to be able to explain it in a way that would avoid that.

'In my sector,' she says, 'contract is at the root of everything. Civilisation is built on fair and mutually beneficial contract, and it's always been that way. Contract is... seeing what the other person is offering, and saying I value that and so I offer this in return, value for value.'

She hopes Zivia can see where she's going with this. 'So. I value your bread and the effort you went to, making it, so I need to offer fair contract in return. You'll let me pay?'
decohere: (Default)

[personal profile] decohere 2024-05-24 01:07 am (UTC)(link)
"Water damage aside, it is a relief to have our own space back," she agrees with a smile.

"And really, wasn't any trouble at all, I liked having... something to keep me occupied." Rather than panicking about being trapped on a ship again, or spending all her time fretting over her dying husband. He needed space from it just as much. It's so hard to rest when you're trying to be okay for someone else, and her worrying wasn't making him any better.

"Want to come in for some tea?"
preacher_in_reticence: playby: Waleed Zuaiter (Neutral - Pointed Look)

[personal profile] preacher_in_reticence 2024-05-24 03:02 am (UTC)(link)
It's not a question he was expecting. He sort of blinks a couple times, uncertain.

"Kitchen? Kitchen. We could just do eating there, perhaps. I don't know. I...don't entertain guests often. You're the third in about three years."
preacher_in_reticence: playby: Waleed Zuaiter (Sad - Wistful)

[personal profile] preacher_in_reticence 2024-05-24 04:54 pm (UTC)(link)
"Internet?" Look, there's a lot of words the newcomers use that he doesn't know. He's unashamed of having to ask for definitions.

He leads her into the kitchen, which has the same impression as the foyer. The kettle has a floral motif. There's a vase sitting on the counter as if waiting for flowers to be put in it. He pulls out the butter and jam, setting them on the kitchen table, along with plates and butter knives.
preacher_in_reticence: playby: Waleed Zuaiter (Happy - Amused)

[personal profile] preacher_in_reticence 2024-05-25 03:50 am (UTC)(link)
"Daffodils. Melly liked how they were one of the first flowers to spring up in the thaw."

It all comes back to her. He doesn't know how to move on. Stuck, that's what it is. He's been stuck.
astrogator: (pic#15963515)

[personal profile] astrogator 2024-05-25 10:09 am (UTC)(link)
There's a flood of relief when Zivia doesn't object, isn't offended. Tayrey will talk very firmly about contract in the abstract, assert that someone who can't deal with her on equal terms isn't someone she wants to deal with at all. She means it. Except that for her the not dealing would be neutral. Offending isn't her intention.

What she has here is the best possible outcome.

'It includes any kind of trade. In my sector we don't really distinguish between trading and selling, because straight selling is just trading for currency, and different colonies use their own currencies so it's not like we're attached to one. If they feel different to you, that's no trouble, I can trade you something else, no money needed,' she assures Zivia.

'I don't like trading in unspecified favors but if there's something in particular you had in mind?'
astrogator: (pic#15928583)

[personal profile] astrogator 2024-05-26 06:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Has she ever had homemade bread? She isn't sure if the market bakeries back on Cardalek count, and they wouldn't have accepted anything but the marked price anyway. She takes her time, thinking it over.

'It's practical. So I could help with something practical? Maybe a small repair, or a delivery across the island?'
astrogator: (pic#16539211)

[personal profile] astrogator 2024-05-26 09:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Tayrey sits up a little straighter, tapping her fingers on the table. 'I don't really... make things,' she admits. 'Unless technical drawings count, or my star charts.' The latter she'd advertised across town, but she asks a high price for them.

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