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Even now, after months in Darrow, there's so much Demelza has never seen before. She does her best to learn, looking things up in books at the library and even on the computer in the apartment she and Ross share, though she's still terribly clumsy with that and prefers the atmosphere of the library at the end of it all. So she's learning and she thinks she might one day soon ask Mr Solo for more information regarding the GED he had so kindly told her about, but there are still thinks that shock her.

Ross is at work and Julia is at home with Abby. Demelza had taken Garrick and simply gone out to get some groceries and she had meant to stop by the library as well, but instead she'd gotten caught up on the street, staring openly at the shop she's seen before, but has never truly paid much mind to until now. The windows are papered with illustrations, intricate and beautiful, but there's one open window and through it she can see a young woman, not much older than she is herself, and she's bent over a man at least twice her age, drawing on his arm with a buzzing instrument.

Garrick whines and pulls at his leash, but Demelza can't look away. As she watches, blood and ink bloom on the man's skin, and although he winces once, it doesn't seem as if he's in much pain. She's never seen anything like it and her interest is only drawn away once, when she watches a middle aged man with a long needle that he puts through a woman's nose.

Leaning back, she peers up at the sign, squinting in an attempt to read it.

"Tat... oohs," she pronounces slowly. "And piercings." She rather wants to go inside, but thinks they might frown upon her dog and may not be too happy answering her questions, so she glances around, hoping to spot someone who may be willing to help her. It's only luck she catches sight of Baz and she brightens, waving at him.

"Baz, hello! Do 'ee have some time for me?"

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I smile as I stroll up. "I always have time for you, Demelza," I say pleasantly, mostly ignoring the dog. I glance at the building she's standing in front of when the scent of blood hits my nose. I lick my lower lip, and then look back to Demelza, doing my best not to think about how thirsty I suddenly am.

"Thinking of getting a tattoo?"

He says it quite different from how she'd thought it pronounced, so it's something of a relief to have had him to say it first, even as she shakes her head. "No," she says. "Looks terribly painful, though I don't understand what it is. The woman in there is drawing on that man, but it's making him bleed. Why is that?"

And why does the machine buzz? What is that long needle for? Why did someone have it put through her nose? What is the point of all this? She has so many questions, but she settles on just the one for the moment, not wanting to overwhelm Baz. There are times when she speaks too much, she knows that, when she asks too many questions for one person and so she does her best now to limit what she wants to know.

My eyebrows quirk up a moment, and I have to hold back a look of amusement. What interesting times Demelza comes from, to not even know what a tattoo is.

"I don't have any myself, but I've heard that they're terribly painful or that they don't feel any worse than a scratch. I think it depends on the placement, and perhaps the person," I muse. I don't know much about tattoos, honestly, but I think I know the basics. "The reason it bleeds is because it's drawn with a needle. The needle makes a sort of wound and it's filled with ink, and that way the drawing stays in the person's skin and won't wash away."

Edited 2016-03-12 03:25 (UTC)

"So it stays?" Demelza asks, all but plastering herself to the window again so she can look inside. The design on the man's arm is quite beautiful, a lovely stag with a bird in the background, but she doesn't understand why he would want such a thing on his arm forever. Drawn with a needle and ink filled into a wound. It seems so dangerous to her, so unsanitary and begging for all kinds of infection.

"It stays forever?" she asks, looking back to Baz. "Oh, I don't think I'd like such a thing on myself or on Ross, but tis awful pretty on that man's arm. I don't rightly understand the purpose. What if he were to decide he no longer enjoys the stag picture?"

"Yes, it's permanent," I say, mouth quirked in amusement at her fascination, the way she's peering openly into the shop.

"I think sometimes people get them for a personal reason, like it represents an experience they had or a person they've loved," he says, thinking of all the mom tattoos and tattoos of people's children's names. "Or they just like the look of it. I'm not sure about regrets, but sometimes..." I lean a little and lower my voice, as if sharing a secret. "You can get a shoddy tattoo artist, and then you're stuck with a terrible picture."

"Oh, that's terrible," Demelza says, but she's clearly still fascinated by the entire venture. It's not something she'll ever find herself doing, she sees little reason to decorate herself in such a manner, but she knows the next time she goes into the library, she's going to look up everything she can on the subject.

"And what of that?" she asks, pointing at the man who was carrying the needle. "He put that into someone's nose."

She shivers a little, thinking about it. The needle looks so long, so frightening, and she imagines it much hurt terribly.

My eyebrows quirk up, and I can't help a small smile at the way she shivers at the sight of that needle. I don't blame her, I wouldn't want that coming anywhere near her, either.

"That is to give someone a piercing. You've probably seen them, in people's earlobes?" I say, indicating my own. "But sometimes people like to pierce their nose, lip, tongue. Other places."

I'm not about to tell sweet Demelza about nipple piercings.

She can't imagine doing anything like that to herself and she shakes her head, looking at Baz with an incredulous expression. Through the tongue. She can't imagine it. Reaching up, she pinches her tongue between her thumb and forefinger, then shivers again.

"Tis a strange practice," she says, finally turning away from the shop, satisfied with Baz's explanation. She doesn't see the need to judge people, she thinks there's room for all sorts of people in a place like Darrow, but she can be certain there will be no tattoos or piercings in her future. She's seen pierced ears, but nothing in any other part of the body. "Is it common? I'm sorry, Baz, how are 'ee? I was just so distracted."

"Earrings and tattoos are definitely common, though I'd say other piercings aren't so much. Mostly with teenagers, people my age and a bit older," I tell her. It really depends on the crowd, I think, but I can only base it off the general public I've seen, and the telly.

I smile over at her. "I'm well enough. I'm good. I bought Simon a cat, and it sheds everywhere. Did you eat any of that cursed chocolate, for Valentine's Day?" I ask.

Growing up as she did, Demelza can't quite see cats as pets the way people do here, but she understands the attachment they have is quite like her attachment to Garrick. She looks down at her dog and scratches his ears for being such a good boy, then smiles at Baz.

"Has he always wanted a cat?" she asks. "Tis kind of 'ee if he has."

At his next question, though, her cheeks flush deeply and she looks down at Garrick again instead of looking at Baz. "I did, yes. Ross and I both. We didn't know there was anything wrong with it. Did you?"

"I've since learned he has. I had a hunch he did beforehand, which is where I got the idea, because...ah..." I hadn't meant for the conversation to loop around to this, and my face turns a bit red with embarrassment to bring it up. "Well. There's this twat named Magnus, and he turned me into a cat. Simon quite enjoyed it, so I thought he might like to have a real one."

I look away politely when I see Demelza's blush, assuming what it must mean. I did hear about the chocolate having a rather aphrodisiac effect on some. I couldn't have just gotten that sort of chocolate, of course, which would have made the day far more pleasant. "I didn't until afterward. It sent me into something of a romantic frenzy, and I spent nearly all the money I had in the bank on Simon. That's why the cat."

There's so much he's just said that Demelza doesn't quite follow, the first being how one can turn into a cat, but there's a fair bit of Darrow she still doesn't understand, as proven by the questions she'd been asking Baz about tattoos and piercings. But turning into a cat seems something else entirely and her brows draw together in confusion before she shakes her head and smiles.

There are things, perhaps, that maybe she'll never need to understand.

"Seems many of us had such things happen," she says, admittedly glad she hadn't spent all their money on gifts for Ross. She's not going to tell anyone what she and Ross did do instead, but they're trying so hard to save money for their new child that she can't imagine doing such a thing. "But otherwise things with Simon are going well?"

"Yes, this place doesn't seem to leave anyone untouched, even if sometimes it's harmless," I say with a quiet smile, imagining the chocolate didn't do any damage to a young, married couple. I hadn't done anything to Simon and I, either, really. Just a heap of embarrassment and a knock to my bank account. I have to remind myself that the money was free in the first place, so I can't feel too badly about it.

"Simon and I are good. He remains my beacon in this place," I sigh. This place feels almost like a haven being here with him, unbothered by problems back home. And yet, I still miss other things. But if it was a choice between home and Simon, I know who I'd pick. "Could you imagine being stuck here without Ross?"

"I don't have to imagine, I was here a month before he arrived," Demelza answers, frowning faintly at the memory. "I didn't like it at all. Twas difficult, being without him, especially as things were between us before I arrived here. I... I had done something terrible in attempt only to make our cousin Verity happy, but it all went so wrong."

Ross had been so angry with her, though he hadn't said as much. His disappointment had echoed over their entire home, making her feel as if she would never be able to repair their relationship or his trust in her.

"She was in love with a man of whom her brother did not approve and I helped them meet in secret," she says. "Her brother found out, blamed Ross, and revealed something he knew about Ross which ruined his business. It destroyed the lives of many good men."

I'd forgotten that most people, just because I've seen them here together from home, like Simon and I, didn't start out here together. I've learned from others that Simon and I showing up at the same time is a bit of an anomaly. Privately, I wonder how I would have taken it, that first day, if I'd been alone.

I listen quietly, and quirk a curious brow at what that secret could possibly be. Ross seemed like a temperate man to me, and I can't imagine Demelza marrying someone who lived a scandalous life. Then again, back when she's from, the most inconsequential things are probably considered scandalous.

"That sounds awful. Unless they're abusive, I'll never understand why people try to impose their judgement on who other people want to be with. Simon and I weren't together back home, but I know my father wouldn't approve."

"Tis very different here," Demelza says. "Perhaps even where you're from, though perhaps not, if your father should have such opinions on who you love. Captain Blamey, he were the man Verity was in love with, and his first wife had died after he pushed her during an argument. He was in his cups at the time and he went to gaol, served his time, he did stop drinkin'. There wasn't a mean bone in his body, I would swear to it, but Verity's brother and father saw him as an unfit match."

She pauses and looks at Baz. "I were an unfit match for Ross, too. I'm just a scullery maid and he's a gentleman. My father didn't approve and Ross's uncle didn't approve. Ross and I, and you and Simon, perhaps we're all in the same type of situation at the end, though I suppose I understand more that one might not approve of me than of you and Simon."

As far as she can tell, they're both so kind, and status doesn't seem to mean as much in more modern times. "It weren't about status, were it? I mean, would it have been, if your father knew? For Ross and I, that's what it was."

"Classism is what you and Ross suffered from." I don't want to sound condescending, I'm simply not sure if they used the term back then. "It still exists in the, ah, modern world I come from, though perhaps in different ways. If you'd been a maid in my world and fallen in love with someone wealthy, some may have looked down on it, but it wouldn't be such a big scandal."

"My world is very much like Darrow's, though in the magickal community I came from we have our own sort of classism. That is, some families have a higher standing in society because they have stronger magic. My mother, her name was Natasha, came from a very rich and powerful family. My father did not, and her side of the family didn't approve of them. But they were in love," I explain. There were marriage rituals, duels my father had to win, but that's more complicated than is worth getting into.

"As far as Simon and I go, you're right. It was more that my father didn't approve that I'm queer. Gay." I wave a hand briefly, I don't care which label is used, personally. "Some people in my society don't care one whit, but homophobia still exists, as does racism and sexism. But, it was also because Simon was favored by the head of the Coven. That's all mage politics, though."

"It sounds to me that even if Blamey and Verity lived in a place like Darrow, Verity's family might still have reserves. But women have more freedom. They've fought for it, as all oppressed people have."

Demelza listens to Baz with interest, hungry for any knowledge that may be offered to her. Ever since leaving Illugan for Nampara, she had found herself completely in love with learning and Darrow offers more opportunity for it yet, through the library, of course, and the strange computer she's yet to master, and the people she's met. They all know so much more than she does and she is determined to learn everything from them that she can.

"Classism," she echoes, her voice soft and she nods at what Baz says next. "Men don't often bed down with other men where I'm from. I mean... somehow I'm sure tis something that happens regardless, just that it happens quietly, under the cover of night and no one will talk of it. Seems silly, t'be honest. Love is love." And people love who they love at the end of it all. Demelza doesn't understand why it matters, what any of it matters to others. She and Ross never hurt anyone with their love and she knows Baz and Simon haven't either. If anyone perceives hurt from it, it's their own biases, she decides.

"Well, I think you and Simon both are lovely," she tells Baz, squeezing his arm. "And should anyone say a mean thing t'either of 'ee about it, tell me, and they shall have a thrashing."

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