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Post by brightberries on Aug 7, 2020 10:12:56 GMT -6
Hummus had just arrived in the Palasa Sanctum this morning, having woken up slightly late in her apartment and rushing a small breakfast, when she spotted a bright white figure with a hippocampus tail. She blinked and stopped in her tracks. Very few equines arrived so very early to the Sanctum unless they really needed to. She prepared herself mentally for a bout of counseling -- she was still not fully awake yet, but she wasn't going to let that stop her from helping someone. She was the first Attendant apparently to see this individual, or else they would already be tended to.
"Hello," she tries, "I am an Attendant here. Have you been helped?"
She could not read the white-coated stranger's expression, for they were turned away from her. She hoped she wasn't intruding on some kind of internal prayer. She had done that before and been snapped at for it. While she waits for a response, she observes the stranger further. They had to be at least slightly younger than her, by the looks of it. Such bright whiteness. They were quite beautiful. She hoped her admiration didn't show too plainly upon her face, because that would be truly embarrassing.
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Post by Kelpie-River on Aug 8, 2020 11:29:17 GMT -6
Sarenyah || Courtesan || Post One
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The white stallion's stomach was growling, and he felt his ears flatten to his head at the sound of it. Embarrassment flushed hot beneath his coat, and he cast his violet eyes down towards the ground, not wanting to be seen or noticed for a moment. Perhaps his shame would be taken as prayer, and he wouldn't have to talk to anyone but the Attendant themself. Whoever that might be. He wasn't familiar with this particular Sanctum, but he needed to be here. Work had been...slow...and while he loved his family, he refused to go to them for help. Which meant that he was struggling to feed himself.
The sound of a voice made the white stallion start slightly, and he looked over his shoulder, offering up a wan smile to the owner of the words. She was pretty enough, he thought, though not his type at all. Her kindness was palpable, and it made the horse relax slightly as he shook his head. "No...I....my name's Sarenyah," he said softly. "I was...please...food," he choked out, shame crossing his face and making him lower his head again.
WC: 194
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Post by brightberries on Aug 10, 2020 9:16:22 GMT -6
"That's a wonderful name," she says to him, finally recognizing the look in his eye for what it was -- embarrassment. Sympathy rose up within her. "Oh, I see -- I will go get you some," she said as she retreated into the Sanctum's food pantry section, leaving him alone for a few moments until returning with teke full of bags and boxes of unprepared food. He would have to bring it back home and cook it himself, and she hoped that wouldn't be an issue. There were options for receiving already prepared and ready to read food in this Sanctum, for immediate hunger. She was ready to tell him so, if he seemed disappointed with what she'd brought.
"Here you go, Sarenyah," she placed all the items delicately at his hooves, careful not to seem like she was shoving things at him. She was still new to this job, and if there was some ritual process to this endeavour, her mentors had not made her aware of it. Still, it couldn't be a horrible thing to do it like this, could it? Someone needed help and she was prompt in giving it. That had to count for something, she dearly hoped.
WC: 200
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Post by Kelpie-River on Aug 12, 2020 15:57:54 GMT -6
Sarenyah || Courtesan || Post Two
As he waited, Sarenyah let his eyes rove over the Sanctum around him. It was pretty enough, if not a touch humble compared to the Noble houses he was being dragged to more and more often as Keahi started to manage his independent career. As the paint returned, Sarenyah dipped his head to her, smiling softly. He looked over the abundance of food that she'd brought, and his tail flicked slightly, the fins waving with barely suppressed excitement. This would be enough to feed him for a week or two at least, and that meant he could relax about having to work himself half to death to make ends meet.
His violet eyes were shining with a glimmer of unshed tears as he looked up at the mare. "Thank you," he whispered, nodding to the Sanctum Attendant reverently. "I...really...this is more than I expected," he told her softly. "I can't express what it means to have you be so kind." The stallion had grown up an urchin on the streets, and he was no stranger to hunger, to fighting for his supper. Even though he'd been taken in by commoners, and raised up in status, he never forgot those early lessons, and any kindness was seen as unnecessary and over the top to him.
"Um...if I...might trouble you for one more thing," the stallion said, pawing anxiously at the floor with one forehoof. "I've heard that...this Sanctum offers counsel...and...I....I would much appreciate someone to talk to over a meal?"
WC: 258
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Post by brightberries on Aug 12, 2020 16:13:47 GMT -6
"Of course! This is the first time I've given away food, actually, I have marginally more experience in counseling," she informs him, "My name's Hummus, by the way."
She smiled gently but brightly, suddenly feeling slightly more in her element. As she'd said, she had offered advice before when asked and was certainly more confident in that than in the gifting of foodstuffs. For all she knew, she'd given him far too much, or maybe even too little. She'd have to wait till her mentors -- the older Sanctum Attendants -- came back to check on the food pantry later in the day and say whether or not too much was missing to have been given to just one equine. Hummus was often very nervous over details like that, but this time she happily shoved it to the back of her mind in order to speak with Sarenyah.
She was alarmed to see the unshed tears in his eyes, and rushed to reassure him, "Please do not cry...this is my job." It'd been a long time since the last time she witnessed someone crying, since usually the one ending up in tears in her life had always been her. In fact, the last person she saw cry was her own mother, a short time before her death. Hummus tried her best not to let how unsettled she was show. A stallion, no less. They didn't tend to cry as often as mares, or so her father had always claimed.
WC: 248
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Post by Kelpie-River on Aug 12, 2020 16:18:55 GMT -6
Sarenyah || Courtesan || Post Three
"Well, I'm pleased to be your first client when it comes to food," Sarenyah told her with a sort of soft smile, dipping his head to her once again. "It's greatly appreciated, Hummus," he told her, using the name to roll it around on his tongue, try to remember it for future days. It wasn't the most unusual name he'd heard in his life, and it gave him something to think of other than how pitifully he'd acted moments before. Sarenyah often threw up a sharp shell to protect himself, and he'd had it pulled down around him by her kindness without even noticing.
"Oh...no, I'm all right," Sarenyah assured her, shaking his head to clear away his misty violet eyes. "I just...well, we can talk about it more in depth once we've sat down for our session, but...kindness is not often afforded to me, or wasn't when I was young. So I tend to see it as something...I've been undeserving of," he told her, choosing his words very carefully.
WC: 174
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Post by brightberries on Aug 12, 2020 16:35:36 GMT -6
"Well, you're welcome," she listens to the careful edge of his words, understanding that must have been hard for him to admit on some level. She could've said more, like, 'Don't ever hesitate to ask for aid from me again,' but something in her told her to drop it. Pride was a fickle thing for equines, and she was almost never sure if she was stepping on someone's sense of pride or not. "Where would you like to sit for this talk?"
WC: 82
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Post by Kelpie-River on Aug 12, 2020 16:53:13 GMT -6
Sarenyah || Courtesan || Post Four
The stallion nodded, swallowing his pride and the lump in his throat as he looked over at Hummus. "You seem to be rather...good at what you do," he told her with a soft chuckle, as he used his teke to heft the box of food and set it conveniently out of the way on the side of the room, where no one would trip over it, but Saren could pick it up and take it home when he left. "How about over here?" He suggested, nodding to a sunny corner beneath a stained glass window, the lights of which cast beautiful colored patches on the ground below. "It might not be the most luxurious spot, but I'm not one for the tassels of royalty," he told the mare with a soft chuckle.
"I've got so many things swimming through my head at any given time. It's all so...much," he told Hummus with a soft snort.
WC: 155
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Post by brightberries on Aug 12, 2020 18:21:17 GMT -6
"That works."
She moves to the spot he gestured to.
"I'd love to hear about them," she says to his last statement, sitting down comfortably in the light.
WC: 28
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Post by Kelpie-River on Aug 13, 2020 18:54:13 GMT -6
Sarenyah || Courtesan || Post Five
The stallion clattered over to the small corner he'd indicated, kneeling down onto the ground and settling against a wall, near the stained glass window. His white coat reflected all the colors from the window, leaving a bright mixture of hues across his face and body. His violet eyes were...tired. He sighed.
"I'm just...so overwhelmed," the stallion told Hummus softly. "After all, with King Isador in power, I can't help but feel that the working class is still being overlooked. I come from lower than low," he confided softly. "I've been RAISED to the status of common. And for that I'm grateful, but I feel as though the Nobility prance around without a second thought to the rest of us.
"And there's this horse. Keahi. He wants me to start a business with him and his noble boyfriend. It seems a good idea, but...what if I fail?"
WC: 150
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Post by brightberries on Aug 18, 2020 16:39:07 GMT -6
She tried not to openly admire him again.
"I...feel the same way about the nobility, and I come from a poor family myself."
She purses her lips in thought.
"You may fail, Sarenyah. I don't know you, and I'd like to say you wouldn't, but the fact is you might. It would only be a setback. It won't ruin your entire life. Ignacio guides you and puts you through trials for a reason: for you to learn."
WC: 78
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Post by Kelpie-River on Aug 19, 2020 16:48:43 GMT -6
Sarenyah || Courtesan || Post Six
Sarenyah was overjoyed to hear that the mare also came from the lower elements of the Aodhian culture. After all, it was rare to find anyone that wasn't licking King Isador's hoofprints, in Saren's line of work. So to know that there were others who didn't think the Nobility all they were cracked up to be? Well, that was something to be thankful for.
At the mention of failure, Sarenyah sighed slightly. "I feel as though...and don't get me wrong...I trust in Ignacio," he said, leaving out the silent to a point that ran through his head. "But...I've gotten so far with my own wits. I suppose I fear trusting someone else to do right by me," he said with a soft sigh. "How pathetic is that?" Snorted the white stallion, seeming amused almost by the thought.
WC: 140
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Post by brightberries on Aug 22, 2020 12:19:07 GMT -6
She could see the relief in his purple eyes.
"I can understand your perspective, though I have not been in your shoes. It's hard to just let go and trust, for many. I don't think it's pathetic at all."
She glanced away briefly as she thought about what to possibly say next.
"I can't really give you any other advice unless you tell me more, but to keep going forward, continue trusting in Ignacio, be wise as you can and don't look back."
WC: 83
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Post by Kelpie-River on Aug 25, 2020 19:06:32 GMT -6
Sarenyah || Courtesan || Post Seven
The white stallion sighed, his violet eyes closing for a moment as he thought. "I mean...that's fair," he admitted with a tiny chuckle. "I can't blame you for needing more information to help," he stated with a soft snort of amusement. "You see, this...courtesan...approaches me after work one day, by letter mind you, and tells me I can do better than work at the Pearl. And eventually, he drags me along to meet his lover, who was going to finance our...adventure. This courtesan wants to create a place to rival the Pearl, own it, run it, and have me help out there," he explained. "It seems...almost blasphemous to ask for so much...but...surely Ignacio would want me to seek my dreams, right?"
WC: 128
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Post by brightberries on Aug 25, 2020 22:16:35 GMT -6
"Of course he would!" Hummus says, "That sounds like such an ambitious goal...do they seem like good businesspeople? Like they're not biting off more than they can chew?"
WC: 29
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Post by Kelpie-River on Aug 27, 2020 18:08:26 GMT -6
Sarenyah || Courtesan || Post Eight
"I don't know," admitted the white horse. "The one of them, the Courtesan, he seems to know what he's thinking of at all times, but the Noble, they're hardly interested at all. I think they just want their little lover exalted so that they don't lose any part of their family fortune," he snorted with a roll of his eyes. "I haven't the foggiest idea if we can actually pull this off, or if I'll end up crushed, homeless, and hungry for quitting the Pearl."
WC: 85
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Post by brightberries on Sept 20, 2020 14:16:00 GMT -6
"Oh, dear. The second one sounds like they could actually be a problem. Do you think you have enough of a silver-tongue to get them more interested? Or maybe you could bring it up with their lover?" She was admittedly pulling at straws now, but she was doing her best to think of solutions for Sarenyah. Not having much experience with business, this was the best advice she could offer -- talking it out with the other two involved like adults.
WC: 80
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Post by Kelpie-River on Sept 21, 2020 17:06:55 GMT -6
Sarenyah || Courtesan || Post Nine
Sarenyah sighed, nodding. "You know, you've been a rather helpful presence today," he told the other horse with a soft smile. "I came here seeking nothing more than a meal to fill a hungry belly, and not only have I been given that, but a week's worth of food on top, and a rather helpful expression of thought," he mused. "It must be difficult, to be here, listening to the woes of the rest of the world all the time, but...it suits you," he told her softly. "So...thank you. I'll talk with them both, see if I can't figure out if this will really work, or if it's just a dream that will never truly be touched."
WC: 119
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Post by brightberries on Oct 11, 2020 10:22:34 GMT -6
"You're so welcome!" Hummus replied with a flourish, "I'm just doing my job. I do hope this will turn out well for you, and I will be praying for it. Thank you for your kind words." She smiled at him in return, glowing.
WC: 43
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