hexarchate_rpg | on the nature of oaths

zuhrovet posting in

[In the current move, Sasha has just accepted an oath of service from Jedao, a relationship Reshad believes is coercive. I'm not sure whether this properly counts as character rp or a new half-move, but I think we all need some new space to deal with the fallout!]

Sasha is waiting outside the antechamber. She has tied her scarf again, and looks as put-together as she ever does. "Are we having this conversation in my office?" she asks Reshad. "Or over tea, with everyone?"

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From:

zuhrovet

"The time I locked the command files and held them for ransom?" Sasha's smile is genuine, though edged. "Ashari and I have an understanding." And I'm not stupid enough to play fashion games against an Andan. "It's everyone else I'm worried about--the people who will be looking from them to me to our newest team member, and wondering what the fuck they've gotten into."

What the fuck have they all gotten into? It would be comforting, to thrash it out. But Reshad is going to slip sideways.

From:

hoardingpearls

"All right, then we have an audience." What might sound like hostility, Reshad is beginning to learn to read as humor, of a foreign sort. Sasha truly is a wanderer of time, and norms do not last, despite the factions' insistence that they do.

/Team member/ is good, encouraging; it says that Jedao's prisoner status is not permanent. "Will he be attending? That... allows far greater flexibility in display." Among other things, including letting the team begin to combine.

[If there's something Hexarchate-flavored and used to signal allegiance that Reshad is missing here, I humbly request patience! It's been a long holiday season and I'm coming off a nasty cold.]

From:

zuhrovet

Sasha shrugs. "I don't have early access to that future. But I told you, Ashari likes a spectacle. I think they are more likely to time his entrance to some other effect than to leave him out."

[I hope you recover quickly!]

From:

hoardingpearls

Of course the Andan is likely to make a fuss of their own interests in Jedao. The only question is what those may be, and they should follow a set of relatively predictable paths... But that isn't what Sasha is here for.

"Then, it may be good to display the connection you already have. Ask him to wear that hairpin; you wear some corresponding token. Doesn't need to be the bond itself to be effective." To avoid stepping on her sensibilities, and also to present the information in a way readable across cultural lines.

"So far as the rest? Your comfortable jacket may be a good choice." She tries a touch of humor. "And whatever you've liked to wear that isn't holed."

From:

zuhrovet

Yeah, there's no fucking way Sasha's leaving her hair uncovered around Ashari.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." With a bit less sarcasm, she continues, "Just to state the obvious, it's going to be black on black. Or did you think I should borrow the two gears?"

From:

hoardingpearls

"Black on black is fine. Might even be a statement in itself." Hm, does she change her own ornaments? It's worth considering.

She smiles at the question. "Depends. Do you want to signal being in his command as much as he's in yours? If you don't, it might be good to avoid gold details entirely." Kel colors. "Or military silhouettes. In your shoes, if I wanted to make a claim of his loyalty, I would have him wearing your symbol - then make it very obvious it's yours."

[Does Sasha's wardrobe have much in the way of military cuts or different texture?]

From:

zuhrovet

"Next time I take an oath from an infamous murderer, I'll hire a graphic designer first." Sasha smiles, rather sideways. "I don't have a symbol of my own--I cut and pasted that feather from the rebellion logo. I can't exactly claim Fountain House, here."

[Sasha's complete current wardrobe consists of a floppy and generally execrable hat, a couple of scarves, some underwear, four gray shirts (one hacked short, one with part of a circuit board printed on the back), two pairs of baggy pants with lots of pockets, a black jacket with a stand collar (hers probably doesn't have the zippers), two workout tanks made from some high-tech sweat-wicking fabric (these are surprisingly flattering & show off her shoulder muscles), a pair of leggings of the same material, some shoes equivalent to sneakers, the hairpins seen earlier, and some ribbon. She left the hiking gear and all of her Naxorian clothes behind in the 200s.]

From:

hoardingpearls

"You've got to make sure your priorities are correct," Reshad says, amused. One hand makes a flippant sort of gesture to the side: what else could they possibly be? There's an Andan joke there if one so much as scratches the surface.

"That's fine. It makes a claim of both your loyalty to the rebellion." The rebellion logo and its inexplicable feathers.

"All right. How about this: wear your jacket, one of your tanks or a new shirt we can have fabbed in your dimensions. Have a pin to match his, and... maybe a black hat, to match?" She eyes the disreputable object on Sasha's head as if expecting that specific instance to be required, for Naxorian reasons.

From:

zuhrovet

But those are workout tanks. Even Sasha knows that's wrong. She studies Reshad for a moment, looking for signs of mockery. It would be a classic technique, to tell Sasha the clothes she already has are fine when they are not, and then blame her for ignorance. But Reshad is too professional to betray amusement out of turn, and perhaps above a game that simple.

"We can print a new shirt. And a new hat, for that matter. Just as long as my hair is covered."

From:

hoardingpearls

There's no mockery apparent. It wouldn't be the best thing to wear to a party, but she's seen worse.

"Oh, good." There's some real relief there. "Then, it's pretty simple from there, no? Now - are you trying to bring in concealed weaponry?" The way she's phrased it, that's barely even a question. The more interesting query is /what./

From:

zuhrovet

"I have the entire grid," Sasha says, with the slow grin that means, Are you going to tell me that's not enough?

From:

hoardingpearls

Reshad's grin in return is edged, and for once the sharpness isn't meant for Sasha. "Good," she says. Because of course Sasha's been to Ashari's base, and physical access is the best access.

A hand flutters out to retrieve her tablet. "Here-" She has a fashion program, well beyond what a standard fabricator offers. "Let it have your measurements from the grid, and if you see a style you like..." Her voice is gleeful, this being clearly a favorite game.

The software has a maquette that will reconfigure if Sasha gives it permission. A selection of filters is available: symmetry, range of motion, hidden pockets or other features, internal armor options, levels of decoration, and more.

[Let me know if I shouldn't give Reshad any of that! *Lol* but pseudomilitary fashion software seemed like it'd fit.]

Edited Date: 2020-01-10 01:25 am (UTC)

From:

zuhrovet

Sasha feeds in her measurements, dials the range of motion up and the decoration down, and plays with the other options just long enough to get a sense of the combinatorial explosion. She hands the tablet back politely, with both hands. "I don't know how the fuck to optimize these things. Do I impose, if I ask you to choose?"

From:

hoardingpearls

"Not at all." It's true, and if Sasha is going to give her the chance to play paper-dolls with her commanding officer, Reshad is going to take it. She takes the tablet two-handed as it's offered.

It's tempting to suggest something absurd just to watch the reaction. Reshad quashes the urge to pick something truly inappropriate, and dials it down to three.

Simple trousers on all three maquettes, in a style Sasha's already familiar with, no fluttering ties, cutouts, or particularly interesting leg shapes. No glitter; she picks the same matte fabrics she favors, herself. One has a shirt patterned with feathers, the second a simple charcoal grey, and the third, a subtle vertical stripe. The jackets are likewise similar, a versatile, simple cut.

"Would you favor it, did I work clock hands or feathers into my own decorations?"

From:

zuhrovet

Sasha's eyes flicker toward the mannequin, then back toward Reshad's face. She takes a while to answer. "I don't know what that would mean to you, if anything, and I will not hold you to tell me now. But on a purely tactical level, that seems wise."

She picks the middle shirt, the plainest one. She would like more pockets, but those can be added to the jacket without changing the line.

From:

hoardingpearls

Reshad's smile stays in place, and her curious eyes keep to Sasha's face, scanning and rescanning.

"Then, I shall." As simple as that. She refrains from pulling out a pin right now; in all likelihood, she'll need to print something appropriate.

A flick across the tablet's screen sends the specifications to the grid. "Your new outfit should be available for anything else it needs."

[It didn't make it into the first description in that thread, but Reshad will indeed wear a black feather tucked into her other ornaments at the party.]