unfavorableinstigation: Nita working with a Kernel (Wizardry Is Kid Stuff)

Idea has been percolating most of the week...

[personal profile] unfavorableinstigation 2019-01-11 01:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Nita was shy - cowardly, if you asked her while she was feeling particularly bitter about her lot in life - and that alone might have been why she was a handmaiden and not one of the Twelve. Her friend's sister, who was one of the Twelve, had wanted someone she could talk to like an equal.

And, of course, not have them try to steal her spotlight. Considering how much time they'd spent together just to get to the boat, though, Nita had her doubts about that claim.

Still, it meant there was a mousy-looking girl with light skin, leaning on her own spot of railing by the closest corner she could find.

Maybe the lighter sky would lift her spirits? Or so she hoped, trying not to doze off where she stood...
ilda: (13.)

[personal profile] ilda 2019-01-14 02:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Ilda had long lost her faith in the Goddess Queen and her church, but it had sunk to a new low during the Selection. Growing up, she’d heard nothing but stories and whispers about how fate chose the bravest and the best of their generation and gave them a chance to be queen and change the world... only to discover that the Twelve were chosen technically via raffle draw. Completely random.

So when the soft light of the rising sun revealed a mousy-looking girl huddled away in a corner of the boat, the blonde simply assumed she was one of the Twelve, if only because she was about the right age. Only teenagers were eligible for the Emergence.

“Hi there!” she called out, smiling brightly as she shifted over to Nita. “Did you sleep well?”

Just because they were in a competition didn’t mean she had to be a snob, right? Plus, maybe having more friends would help her cause, especially if she’d get caught. (Or maybe not. Cheating in the Emergence was, after all, tantamount to sacrilege. Or heresy. Or something just as bad. Ilda wasn’t sure; she‘d never really taken their religious teachings to heart.)
unfavorableinstigation: Nita looking directly at the viewer, mouth slightly open, as if she's in the middle of an important or unamused expression. (Focused)

[personal profile] unfavorableinstigation 2019-01-14 10:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Nita started, as much by Ilda's specific greetings as by being noticed in the first place.

"Er... I've been trying, yeah," she dodged, glancing more at the floor in an attempt to avoid awkward staring... which was itself awkward.

"Might sleep better once we land, though. What- what about you?"

She looked up properly then, gray eyes meeting Ilda's.
ilda: (15.)

[personal profile] ilda 2019-01-30 06:33 am (UTC)(link)
Ilda's smile brightened all the more when Nita met her eyes.

"Just enough. Kind of hard to sleep with all that's going on." Plus she was more excitable than most girls. And anxious, because of what she'd done to get to where she was. "Are you one of the Twelve?"

It wasn't rude to ask, was it? The Selection didn't exactly reveal who the Twelve were. The priestesses just did some fancy show of picking out crystals; the matching ones in the possession of the lucky girls were supposed to glow, signaling their selection. Ilda didn't know for sure, since her crystal was rigged, guaranteeing her selection.
unfavorableinstigation: It is dark, but Nita is inside reading a book. (Reading Indoors)

[personal profile] unfavorableinstigation 2019-01-30 08:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Nita slowly shook her head.

"My friend's sister is."

And while Carmela was sneaky and spunky enough to have thought of a way to cheat, odds were about even as to whether she had; some good things in life just seemed to happen to her.

Not that she didn't put any effort in, either. Carmela was self-driven in that way.

"I... take it you are, then?"

Nita had no set image of what the Twelve were supposed to look like; just how they were expected to act and benefit the people.