Boredom in the City [Open to all those bored]

[Sapphire]

Sapphire walked down the street and sighed, so much for a fun-filled shopping outing, she had to much on her mind. And yet, she was still so bored. she wandered into a random shop and started looking at the murchandise. Jewellry. She picked up a pretty item, took it to the clerk and payed for it. She clipped the necklace into place and started weaving through the crowded marketplace, looking for someone to talk to.

Sapphire sighed once more. Bored, bored, bored. Didn't she have anything better to do? She contemplated this and came to the conclusion taht there were probably a million better thing she could be doing, but they were all complicated and the thought of them gave her a headache. She weaved her way through the shops and hoped that someone, anyone would run into her.

[Lirael]

Una walked through the city, it was a fine day, the sun was shining, and the tourists where covered in money. The only thing missing was a challenge Una very much enjoyed a challenge. Why couldn't something interesting happen? Something outside the ordinary, there had been day after day of this dry, sunny weather. Why couldn't something change? It was a strange day when Una wished for change. When she was younger, she had always dis-liked change, but pick-pocketing had become increasingly boring. Even Noble's pockets' had lost they're charm.
Do something else, Make life interesting Said the wise voice in her mind. That was the answer.
In the crowd, tourists and nobles and comonfolk roamed the streets. A foreigner walked out of a nearby shop, doing up the clasp of an expensive looking necklace. An Inspiration came to her.
"'Scuse me Ma'am, Do you need a guide? Corus's big, and easy to get lost in, n' I no' it like the back of me' hand," She stopped for a second, grabbing one of the errand boys from the crowd, "Dun' I Rob?"
The boy nodded, and carried on with his business. There were many urchins who showed tourists around the city for a small fee, and it was interesting to practice her lying skills.

[Sapphire]

"'Scuse me Ma'am, Do you need a guide? Corus's big, and easy to get lost in, n' I no' it like the back of me' hand,"

Sapphire grinned, "Nah, i know it pretty well myself, although I only know the touristy places. Know anywhere interesting? Somewhere I haven't been? I'm Sapphire by the way," Sapphire's eyes lit up, new people. This was in itself interesting. Someone out of her usual band of friends. She adored them of course, but she needed something different. Someone who didn't speak about delegacies and peace talks and war and loss. Someone who knew Corus better than Sapphire, who didn't just know the latest shops and, of course, the Dove.

She shrugged, "And besides, I need the company."

[Lirael]

"Nah, i know it pretty well myself, although I only know the touristy places. Know anywhere interesting? Somewhere I haven't been? I'm Sapphire by the way,"
Una had not really banked on this, it would be easy to show someone around the tourist attractions- but more of a challenge to find places This Sapphire woman had not been to. It was also unusual that the noble had told Una her name, rather than her title. Maybe this woman was not a noble but a merchant's daughter. Una would find out later, now she had a city to show off.
"And besides, I need the company." Una smiled,
"Yes Miss," She paused, deciding not to give a name untill asked. "Is there any part of the city you would like to see first, that you haven't seen yet? I can imagine you have been all around the market, the temple district, the palace area and the popular districts. And then, I can take you to the places you haven't heard of." She finished.

[Sapphire]

"Yes Miss,"

"Seriously, it's Sapphire. if another person calls me miss I'll scream. Bloody delegates! They don't seem to be able to see past titles and the like. . Who are you?" She smiled warmly at the girl. She really was sick of 'miss' and 'milady', the other delegates seemed to find it a hard concept to figure that she was actually a human too. She was glad to be in the City, away from peace talks.

"Is there any part of the city you would like to see first, that you haven't seen yet? I can imagine you have been all around the market, the temple district, the palace area and the popular districts. And then, I can take you to the places you haven't heard of."

She thought for a minute then said, "Surprise me, I have been to the Temple District, I live at the palace and I know the market pretty well, but I would love to go somewhere different. Somewhere they don't tell you about when they discribe their amazing city." she grinned.

[Lirael]

"Seriously, it's Sapphire. if another person calls me miss I'll scream. Bloody delegates! They don't seem to be able to see past titles and the like. . Who are you?"
Una grinned, this Sapphire must have been from one of the embassies, most likely the yamani one.
"I'm Naomi Mills. Your one of 'em polititions then?" She asked, trying to make the conversation last as long as possible. Una was slightly interested in politics, she knew about some of the politics in the rogue, and it seemed to contain a lot of gory details, about which advisors got stabbed for what.
"Surprise me, I have been to the Temple District, I live at the palace and I know the market pretty well, but I would love to go somewhere different. Somewhere they don't tell you about when they discribe their amazing city."
" 'Kay then, we'll go...." Una thought for a minute. "To the art workshops. If you don't mind m-Sapphire." She finished. The art workshops had normal portrait painting and miniature painting for parted sweethearts to wear in golden lockets around there necks, there were abstract studios, paintings on walls filled with so much colour and shadow you thought they would come alive. There was a small theatre costume maker, who could make anything from cloth, Una had once seen a dragon costume so realistic she ran out of the room and grabbed her mother's hand begging to go.

[Sapphire]

"I'm Naomi Mills. Your one of 'em polititions then?"

Sapphire grinned, "Pleased to meet you. Yes I suppose I am a politician. A delegate really, and an ambassador, from the Yamani Islands. We are preparing for the upcoming trip. To the Islands. We are renewing the treaties, such as the peace treaty. Makign amends and fixing all the rough patches." she stopped and shook her head, "Sorry, I'm babbling. It must be boring to hear about," God knows it's certainly boring to be doing the preparing she thought to herself. No, that was wrong, she loved being a delegate. But preparation was frightfully long and tiring. What Sapphire loved was the actual debating and the sorting out of problems. Not the etiquette learning and the scheduel learning.

"To the art workshops. If you don't mind m-Sapphire."

"That sounds perfect. And different from this," she gestured to the market place. She loved art, scetching was one of her favourite past-times. It was the perfect escape. She had always wondered what art in the city would be like, but had never got a chance to explore it. She grinned at Naomi, "Lead the way."

[Lirael]

Una scratched her head, maybe she should use the name Naomi Mills more often, it didn't sound particularly unusual.
"Pleased to meet you. Yes I suppose I am a politician. A delegate really, and an ambassador, from the Yamani Islands. We are preparing for the upcoming trip. To the Islands. We are renewing the treaties, such as the peace treaty. Makign amends and fixing all the rough patches."
Politics sounded interesting, but Una doubted she would ever be a politition, they were mostly all nobles, and she was a rogue and a thief. Not that she wanted to anyway She wanted to be a pirate!
"Tha' sounds Interestin'," Una said vaguely "Wouldna' tha' be alot of paperwork tho'?"
"That sounds perfect. And different from this"... "Lead the way"
"Tha' I will Miss Sapphire." She said, walking through a series of alleys, each one dingy and grimy, some with mould and moss down the walls. She took one staircase down to almost the city walls, then up again, nearly to the inner city.
There she stopped, looked around and then opened a solid-looking wooden door of an ordinary looking building.
"Here we are Miss." She told the noble, and stepped through the door.

[Sapphire]

"Tha' sounds Interestin'."

Sapphire considered this and smiled, "It is interesting. I love being a delegate," she gushed, she adored delegation, "politics is a somewhat shady area actually. you never know what might show up. Thats what makes it fun!"

Wouldna' tha' be alot of paperwork tho'?"

"It would," she scowled and wrinckled her nose, "I don't have to do most of it though, I am the main delegator, and scribes are my best friends." she smiled at Naomi. She knew she was probably being way to talkative. And using horrible words that she would never usually use, but she was filling silence. Many people say silence is golden, and Sapphire was not one of them. She followed Naomi and continued to chatter about this and that.

"Tha' I will Miss Sapphire."

She frowned, she hated being titled, "Sapphire, or Fhire if you like," she said quietly. She followed Naomi down the alley.

"Here we are Miss."

Sapphire gasped as she was hit by brilliant colour and bright designs. She looked around at all of the beautiful art in amazement. There were amazing painting on every space of wall and brilliant fabrics everywhere you turned. The colours were eye catching and bold. She turned slowly and surveyed everything.

She turned to Naomi, "Wow. Just wow. Thank you for bringing me here. Wow" she said as she took in the artwork.

[Lirael]

Una listened as the woman chattered on about her work as Una half- wished she could have a job like it. It did sound a bit dull for the scribes though, and as she was a commoner Una doubted wether she would get anything further into politics than a scribe. Some merchants children did well, but Una was a seamstress's daughter and she was not at all rich. Once she looked into it this far, Una decided it was not the career for her, and reverted back to her original plan of piracy.

"Sapphire, or Fhire if you like," Una put great restraint into not rolling her eyes, Then she smiled again, to show she understood.
Una was always pretty awed at the art. Every colour in the rainbow was somewhere, scarves hung from the ceiling, a couple of skulls sat next to they're gigantic painted counterparts. Mouths gaping ruthlessly.
"Beautiful, en't it?"

[Sapphire]

"Beautiful, en't it?"

Sapphire nodded numbly, gaping at the artwork. She looked around in awe. She walked up to a painting and studied it, "Wow," she said again, smiling at Una, "This is definately better than any tourist attraction I've ever been to!" she continued to look at the beautiful painting, completely abstract, with bold stripes and swirls. She traced the design with here fingers and sighed. Her paintings were good, better than sometimes, but they lacked the spark and the wow factor that this painting possesed. "I wish I could painbt like this," she muttered.

"So, what do you recommend, anything especially special in this amazing place?"

[Lirael]

Paintings only of different colour stripes could be seen at odd intervals, Una watched Sapphire look at some of the paintings and remarked about the amazingness of the art.
"So, what do you recommend, anything especially special in this amazing place?"
"There are some wonderful 3dimensional pieces up the stairs." Una told Sapphire, and lead the woman up the spiral stairs to a landing, covered in Carthaki fabrics. She walked through a door on the left, and into a gallery. Odd pieces of clockwork and strange looking machines filled the room, some painted strange colours, some made entirely of woolen looking metal.
"These are all done by artists from Corus, some of them are even by children, who come here in the day. It's kind of like an artist community centre."