Dialogue Samples: Under Sun, Stars, and Ships

Asha bumped into the room backwards, holding a large jug of water protectively, and Iris turned to face her.

“Ugh, Are you done with the breads yet? We have too much shit to do for you to stand here daydreaming.”

“The breads are done, and calm down, we’re ahead of schedule. Do you think if we snagged a few scones, anybody would notice?”

“This is not the event for all that. We’ll snag the leftovers after the talks are over, lord knows everybody else will be eating or drinking heavily depending on how the conference goes.” Asha delicately set the jug of water down on a small table near the door.

Iris looked at the jug, “Wait, are we doing drink service? This is a buffet.”

“I thought we were doing drink service. Buffet doesn’t always mean you get your own drinks, and these old dudes will probably spill if they try to lift that thing.”

“I don’t remember that being on the agenda for today.”

Iris and Asha both looked hard at the sweating jug of water.

“It’s probably fine,” They both said in unison, and then burst into quiet laughter with hands covering their mouths.

---

Iris shook her head to clear the last of her merriment and strode towards one end of the table stacked high with additional supplies. “Last touch! Each seat needs to have one notepad, one of these folders with all of the documents we have been sworn not to look at or somebody will probably kill us, and two pens. I’ll take left and you take right?”

Asha and Iris gathered up portions of each stack and started moving down the room.

“So how’s Ben?”

“Ugh, don’t even start. We had a fight two days ago over something so stupid.”

“Two days is kind of a long time to leave something unresolved, Asha...”

“I know. I don’t want to talk about it right now, ask me later when I’ve had something to drink.”

“Okay...”

---

Asha sighed, “Anyway... did you hear about the newbie?”

Iris straightened suddenly and stared at Asha, “They did not give us a newbie on this event!”

“Don’t look at me! I don’t make the decisions!”

“Ugh! It’s like they’re trying to set us up for failure here. Top priority event requires our best people, it’s not the place for training.”

“Yeah, well, you’re preaching to the choir, so feel free to stop bitching anytime, Iris.”

Iris’s mouth snapped shut, and she hunched back over the table to straighten a pen.