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caren hortensia ([personal profile] consolation) wrote2022-10-21 05:57 pm

kenos inbox

communion / action


coding later i need to reevaluate my art folder
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mid-to-late June...

[personal profile] gravings 2023-07-01 03:14 am (UTC)(link)
[ Gray has never considered herself a participant of the political world. She didn't have a say in how things were run in her village, and in London she would have had to be eighteen years old before she could consider voting. So even though the hubbub surrounding the replacement of the Tribune should be her direct concern, she finds herself mentally dissociating as she quietly pets a cafe cat on the periphery of a fiery speech by one of the notable rabble-rousers of late.

Gray's gaze is absent as her mind wanders... but it snaps back into place as she recognizes a familiar face nearby. ]


Oh... Miss Caren!

[ She's hailing Caren before she can think of what consequences that may bring. ]
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[personal profile] gravings 2023-07-03 04:53 am (UTC)(link)
[ "The young woman from Great Britain"... It tracks that Caren wouldn't identify Gray in a normal way. Gray's hand pauses on the cat as her brain runs up against Caren's usual slightly dramatic way with words. ]

I find that spending time with animals is a good distraction.

[ Eager to avoid any strange conversation tangents, she bulls forward. ]

Um, have you had any pets?
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[personal profile] gravings 2023-07-06 03:41 am (UTC)(link)
A bird? Like a parrot?

[ She can't imagine Caren with a parrot at all, let alone such a typically colorful one, but she's also not sure what other birds talk... ]
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[personal profile] gravings 2023-07-08 06:27 am (UTC)(link)
[ Caren delivers that information with such a straight face. Gray looks at her in surprise, and then her lips stretch into a wry smile. She would laugh if it wouldn't feel so rude. ]

Does he have a name?
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[personal profile] gravings 2023-07-12 04:20 am (UTC)(link)
Andante...

[ Gray isn't completely sure what that word means, only that it might be related to music. But it sounds proper and a little complicated, a bit like Caren herself. ]

I don't know if I would call them pets, but I have four chickens... and I'm taking care of a horse named Slow Dancer. I haven't decided on names for the chickens, though.

[ They probably deserve something better than "The first one," "the brown one," and so on. She follows Caren's gaze down to the cat, which continues to laze under Gray's hand. ]

Ah, I don't have a cat, but I've thought it might be nice to have one.
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[personal profile] gravings 2023-07-17 04:34 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, I think so too.

[ It's a practical choice. All practicality here. No other reason why she might want a cat.

As they talk, another cheer rises up in the crowd as the nearby orator says something particularly enticing. Gray glances over, then back to Caren. ]


By the way, what brings you to Springstar, Miss Caren?

[ It isn't really a time of rest and relaxation with all the political excitement that's been going around lately. ]
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[personal profile] gravings 2023-07-21 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
[ Gray sits up with surprise, which in turn makes the cat look up lazily. ]

You're staying here? Did you... decide to change sides?
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shh i'm resting at my computer

[personal profile] gravings 2023-07-22 05:45 am (UTC)(link)
Huh...

[ As always, there's a cryptic element to Caren's answer that Gray feels unqualified to decipher. ]

Couldn't you also say that Zenith's dark spot is that they've already given up on their worlds?
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[personal profile] gravings 2023-07-29 04:58 am (UTC)(link)
[ Caren is right that her teasing immediately puts Gray in apology mode, so it's a good thing that Caren runs that right over... Her defense of their world sounds a bit weak even to Gray, more obligation than affection, but knowing what Caren's role was in the Church, Gray can't blame her. ]

Is there anything you miss from our world?

[ Just out of curiosity... ]
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[personal profile] gravings 2023-08-01 04:51 am (UTC)(link)
[ A town Caren grew fond of "despite herself." What odd phrasing. It sounds like, for whatever reason, Caren is hesitant to admit to herself that she's allowed to like things. ]

What did you find agreeable about it?

[ The people, the scenery, the weather, the food? It's pure curiosity on Gray's part, to know what Caren values. ]
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[personal profile] gravings 2023-08-06 03:34 am (UTC)(link)
[ Too happy? What a strange thing to be disgusted by. Gray has seen what it means for a people to be terrifyingly jubilant, but she has a feeling that isn't the case here. ]

Isn't it normal to want to be among happy people? What did you want to see in a new world as a Zenite... if not that?
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[personal profile] gravings 2023-08-12 06:18 am (UTC)(link)
[ How altrustic of her. It strikes Gray as at odds with her demeanor, but in the context of the Church, Gray supposes this sort of solemn righteousness is actually on-brand. Though all that squeezing Caren is doing at her elbow is a little suspect... ]

When I think of what world I'd like to see, I have a hard time. A world too perfect would be unnerving. And if a perfect world stays perfect forever, it's just trapped in time.
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[personal profile] gravings 2023-08-16 12:21 am (UTC)(link)
[ Gray nods slightly, for once feeling that they're on the same page. ]

Our world was flawed, but it created the people I cared about. If there's a more perfect version of it, I don't have the creativity to know what it would look like.

[ Though maybe the creativity has already been done for her. She blinks as the thought comes to her. ]

I suppose the Garden of Eden was supposed to be paradise, but I don't know if most people would count that as their preferred paradise.