[FIN] I Hear He's Really BIG [Fade/Cue]

[Maxx D]

Fade was very pleased when the shop expanded. There were so many more people to hear about, and Fade was certainly all about The People and Their Affairs, indeed! And when people had children, oh the joy! There was nothing more absorbing than family drama.



And oooh, what drama. Her mind went to work after Weep told her that guy...and Cue. It sounded like the beginning of a very plausible Epic Romance and she wanted front row seats to her 'niece's' first rendevous. A bit of shop scheduling here and there, and here Cue was, with her, making a delivery with her burdened turtle crawling alongside. Now, how do I mention this in a...subtle way...  

[Jun D]

An afternoon with 'Auntie' Fade was the last thing Cue - or anyone in their right mind - wanted, especially with the unpleasant night with that annoying Kiokote still preying upon her thoughts. But she had dropped by the shop at just the wrong time, and Fade had been very earnest about the importance of this delivery and how starving young foals would drop dead if a trained escort did not make sure the turtle reached its destination. Cue wasn't sure she cared if starving young foals dropped dead, not when an entire afternoon spent following a turtle was at stake, but one thing and another, and it was so very awkward to tell your 'god-Aunt' and senior colleague you would rather they drop dead, she drop dead, and you drop dead than do this to her face. Cue was in a very bad mood these days, but still had half a mind applied to future employment.  

[Maxx D]

She watched Soup toddle along, uncharacteristically quiet as she considered her opening line.
"What's this I hear about a kioookote," she begain slowly, imagining it was very subtle, "that I heard you met the other day???"  

[Jun D]

"That kiokote!" Oh, that kiokote! It made her fume just to think of him! Without thinking - rather uncharacteristically - of what she was setting herself up for, she vented to the biggest gossip this side (or any side, possibly) of the Swamp, "the most infuriating creature I've ever had the ill luck of knowing."  

[Maxx D]

Oooooooooh she was angry. What tension. She liked this story already. "Oh my," Fade said, trying to restrain her eagerness - she couldn't have Cue stop now, their conversation had only just begun, "lofty title for this fellow. How infuriating is infuriating?"  

[Jun D]

"Very," she emphasised, "going on and on about his family, about keeping his brothers and sisters together - about how much they needed him, can you imagine?"  

[Maxx D]

"That's a fancy thing to say," she attempted that line with a slight sneer, attempting to lull her 'niece' into more complaining. "Anything more moronic?"  

[Jun D]

"He had the cheek to say," and now her voice had dropped into the valleys of controlled anger, a deep vibration lacing her words like a promise of unbridled fury, "that his love for his family would keep him going even when they've left his sorry carcass, that I with nothing in my darkest moment - that he pitied me more. Pity. The fool - I am the dark." The line lost none of its menace from repetition.  

[Maxx D]

"Yes I agree, okay," she said blithely, but backed away slightly. She hadn't yet seen Cue in action, but her efficiency in fulfilling meat orders was nothing to be laughed at. A wee bit dangerous right now, time to change the subject. "Well, how's the idiot look like then," she transitioned smoothly, "Weep tells me 'e glows."  

[Jun D]

"Oh, yes, he glows," and with those scornful words, she was back to a much less dangerous anger, "that's why they're so special, why they belong together. Because their father was a glowing kimeti, and so they are neither true Kiokote or Kimeti and will never belong with anyone but each other." She recited his words almost ad verbatim, their conversation still a fresh wound cycling sharply through her mind. "How stupid." Without further explanation.  

[Maxx D]

To be fair, Fade did think that he sounded like a bit of a doof, but the tension between two was palpable. More juicy gossip, less niggly details. "Yeah alright, by the way I hear he's really big," she appended, trotting along.  

[Jun D]

"Aren't most Kiokotes pretty sturdy?" the anger had subsided as the topic shifted slightly, and Cue continued almost conversationally without looking over, "on account of all the running. Not that many kimeti dedicated to a workout."  

[Maxx D]

Oh good, she'd gone normal now. In which case, it was time to gear up and start asking the real questions. Fade skipped along, airily remarking "I suppose so! But would you say, you know, you think he's handsome?"  

[Jun D]

Cue paused, momentarily baffled by the inanity of the question. "What," she finally said with an unhealthy amount of incredulity, "for what I could see of a black Kiokote in the dark?"  

[Maxx D]

"I KNEW IT"
Fade declared instantaneously, rearing up in delicious gossipy joy.
"YOU LIKE HIM
LIKE
A
LOT"

As her feet landed, she hopped along and smiled. "Oh you," she pronounced, "such a special girlie you are. Couldn't just settle with a Kimeti, huh???" Her blue eyes were wide and piercing, full of convinction. "You would just have to go find something exotic and glowing and handsome and biiiiiiiig like a Kiokote. Oooh I knew it," she nodded gravely, "it's just so like you to do that, Cue!"